Spurs Youngsters Play A Part In England U-21s Walkover

Surprisingly, especially given the omnipresence and influence of Adam Smith in Pearce's sides over the past few months, the on-loan right back was forced to make an appearance from the bench as the U-21s dominated their friendly tie with Romania all the way to a 3-0 victory. One might be tempted to argue that Smith's minimal role was the result Pearce using the opportunity to test out some newer entrees into his team, though it is subsequently perplexing that Thomas Carroll had to wait until the 75th minute to make his U-21 debut coming on alongside Smith, with Danny Rose ultimately the only Tottenham starter.

Rose played a solid half of football before being subbed off for Jack Robinson, linking up nicely with Raheem Sterling down the left and even cutting in a few times to take on shots with his right foot. As always, it's difficult to tell whether the young fullback's easy night down the flank can be explained by the meek efforts of his counterparts to pin him back or even close him down, but his ambition and industrious workrate appeared at the very least unquestionable.

When Thomas Carroll eventually did take to the pitch to replace captain Jordan Henderson, he was deployed mainly to sit a little deeper and recycle possession to close out the dominant win and seek to carve out a couple of late chances with incisive through balls. Under almost no pressure from opponents, Carroll had a field day, completing his attempted passes and punctuating his cameo with one dazzling pass to Smith. Smith himself did his usual routine of ghosting into space and trying to start give and gos down the right hand side, but with the game already won his impact on the game as a whole was ultimately limited.

In any case, it was nice as ever to see three Spurs players all turn out in national colours and perform admirably for the side, and it is almost a certainty that Carroll, Smith and Rose will all be called up again together as they speed towards the senior appearances that former U-21 star Spur Steven Caulker has already started to string together.