New role for Newcastle United's Anthony Gordon explained

Lee Carsley's explained the thinking behind Anthony Gordon's central role for England's Under-21s in the European Under-21 Championship.

The Newcastle United winger followed up his assist in last week's 2-0 opening win over Czech Republic with a goal yesterday's 2-0 victory over Israel in Georgia.

Gordon scored with a 16th-minute header from a Morgan Gibbs-White cross to open the scoring, and Emile Smith Rowe netted a second for England after the break.

The result saw the Under-21s qualify for the quarter-finals.

Gordon's versatility appealed to Eddie Howe when United signed him from Everton in January, and Under-21 head coach Lee Carsley says he picked "multi-functional" players for the tournament.

“We’ve tried to come up with two or three ways of exploiting the opposition,” said Carsley.

“We’ll try and find gaps and spaces. It surprises me that there's surprise (at his team selection). The players nowadays are multi-functional.

“I see that we’ve got a lot of players within this squad that can do different roles.

“Part of the squad selection was having that flexibility to play with a different kind of nine (striker).

“I see pretty much any of the forward players, whether they’re wide players or forwards, being able to do that nine.

“You get a different type of nine with Anthony than you would with Cole (Palmer) or Curtis (Jones) or Emile (Smith Rowe). We’ve got plenty of options.

“The way we’ve picked the squad, when we make a change it shouldn’t affect the team too much.”

England's final Group C game is against Germany on Wednesday.

'Big' summer

Gordon scored his first Newcastle goal in Newcastle's season-ending 1-1 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last month.

Speaking at the time, the 22-year-old said: "I feel like I’ve got a big summer ahead."

Meanwhile, Italy Under-21 captain Sandro Tonali, set to join Newcastle in a £60million deal, set up a goal in a 3-2 win over Switzerland in Romaia yesterday.