ENGLAND boss Gareth Southgate hailed Michael Keane's 'excellent' Three Lions debut against Germany.

The Burnley centre back played the full game for his country in the friendly defeat in Dortmund, starting on the right side of an experimental back three.

And Southgate, who coached Keane during his time with England Under-21s, said he had no doubts the 24-year-old would fit into that system.

"We had to be a bit creative in how we did it," the England boss said as he explained how he drilled the team.

"We couldn't train on the field too many times but we were able to walk through certain things. We were able to have meetings and work through things on tactic boards and discuss things, and get the players' experiences from their clubs.

"It wasn't an alien system in terms of several of the players were playing in it and I felt it suited others that aren't.

"Michael Keane, who I thought had an excellent debut, has played in the Under-21s for us at full-back and centre-back, so the system was going to suit him no problem."

Keane could be in contention for a second England appearance in the World Cup qualifier with Lithuania at Wembley on Sunday, with Gary Cahill suspended for that clash.

That leaves just Keane, Chris Smalling and Gary Stones as available central defenders and, barring injuries, Southgate has no plans to call-up another.

"We'll just assess over the next 24 hours if we have picked up any other knocks," he said.

"I am not aware of anything significant at the moment so if that is the case we wouldn't."