England 2-0 Ireland: Rice and Grealish shine in Dublin

Lee Carsley said he wanted to stamp his own personality and beliefs on the England team. 

Here in Dublin he stood by his promise not to sing the national anthem and, for those who are wondering, the FA do not intend to do anything about that. 

Then, after all that was out of the way, his players gave him the kind of front foot, controlled and authoritative performance he had asked for.

If what amounts to a six-game audition is to end with Carsley getting the manager’s job permanently he will need some more of this. 

England were, on the whole, impressive and far too good for a Republic of Ireland team that seemed to think physicality was the way to nullify England’s threat and superior ability. It wasn’t so it didn’t.

 

Yes this was only Ireland and yes England did fall away a little in the second half until creating two very late chances. 

But in the summer at the European Championships it was only Serbia, Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia and Switzerland and Gareth Southgate’s England never once played with the enterprise and menace they carried here.

That Declan Rice and Jack Grealish scored the two first half goals that essentially ended the contest within 25 minutes was sweet for England. The team bus had arrived at Landsdowne Road to be greeted by banners depicting the two players as rats. Both had once declared for Ireland, of course, before changing their minds.

The goals were both expertly taken and while Rice chose not to celebrate, Grealish took the other option and it was hard to blame him. Jeered from the stands and kicked about the place on the field, this was the best kind of sporting riposte from a player who seemed to enjoy the positional freedom given to him by his manager.

This was, on the whole, a good day for Carsley. Hed woke to find his comments about not singing the anthem had caused quite the fuss. 

Then, on emerging from the tunnel before kick-off, he briefly took a seat in the wrong dug out. For those looking to play on the fact he once played 40 times for the Republic, it was perfect script material.

Here he simply needed his team’s football to do his talking for him and on the whole they delivered. Picks such as Grealish, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Gordon enjoyed impressive afternoons. Rice was excellent and Harry Kane looked lighter both of body and mind in the centre forward position.

Ireland were outclassed and outplayed for long periods and didn’t help themselves. They were too open and desperately vulnerable to quick England counters when they lost the ball, which was often.

Equally their attempts to physically unsettle and intimidate Grealish were brutishly naïve. Did they not think Grealish will have encountered that before? His response was to keep accepting the ball, keep winning free-kicks and, as a particularly welcome bonus, scoring a goal.

Playing in behind his captain Kane, Grealish found himself with licence to roam. He doesn’t have this opportunity under Pep Guardiola’s more rigid style at Manchester City. Here on a sunny early September day, Grealish appeared rather reborn.

Early on, the Irish were game and ambitious. The home crowd was loud and persistent in both their backing of their own players and their barracking of England. In the opening minutes, it appeared as though Ireland would feed off that a little.

West Brom’s Jayson Molumby should have scored for the home team in only the third minute, heading clumsily over when unmarked as a flicked corner reached him at the far post. 

Not long after that, Ireland hit England with a quick counter attack down the left and Sammie Szmodics of Ipswich worked Jordan Pickford in the England goal with a low left foot shot across the England goalkeeper. A goal at that stage and the challenge presented to Carsley’s England would have felt a little different.

Carlsey’s team were not under any persistent pressure but were already aware that the Irish had come to engage. Maybe that ultimately cost the home team because in the eleventh minute England suckered them with a quick break upfield and took the lead on the back off it.

It was Alexander-Arnold who first spotted opportunity and his long and low pass forward found Gordon racing through the middle in that rangy way of his. 

The Newcastle forward’s shot was too close to the goalkeeper’s legs but he was keen enough to reach the rebound and when he crossed low for Kane from the right, his shot was blocked and Rice side-footed the loose ball in to the top corner with his right instep. 

The Arsenal endeavoured to play it all down but it was a huge goal nevertheless and he will have known it. Pitchside, there was a double fist bump from his manager that pretty much said everything.

From that point on the Republic really struggled. Their five across the back was doubtless designed to give them some protection but too often they seemed to be outnumbered in midfield. Certainly they were being outplayed.

Rice was the game’s best player from early on. Regularly he found angles to pass to team mates before moving in to space to collect return balls and drive England on. Carsley’s team had width and space in which to play and carried a threat. The manager must have been delighted.

Ireland briefly came again and did occasionally look dangerous when they themselves spread the play. But England had given Carsley the control he had asked for and were looking impressively dangerous off the back of it.

When they scored again in the 26th minute, it was once again lovely to watch. Kane had already come close to doubling the lead after Rice had led a charge following the blocking of an Ireland free-kick. 

Again Gordon was involved and when he found Kane twelve yards out Caoimhin Kelleher was quickly out to contribute a smothering save.

Not long after that, the Liverpool reserve goalkeeper didn’t have a chance. Rice worked the ball well – first with Kobbie Mainoo and then with Bukayao Saka on the right – before crossing low to Grealish who swept the ball first time low and in to the corner. 

Suffice to say, Grealish didn’t waste the opportunity to enjoy that in front of the England fans at that end.

From that point on, England were less dynamic and that may have disappointed Carsley ever so slightly. There seemed to be more goals in the offing but England did seem to lose their way a little.

Early in the second half, Ireland actually wasted two good opportunities to grab a foothold in the game. Both chances were similar, arriving on the right side to players moving in to shoot from 18 yards or so. 

But Szmodics was wide in the 59th minute and Molumby too high two minutes later. That was Ireland’s golden hour and they wasted it.

England were only occasionally dangerous in the second period – Jarrod Bowen and Saka both denied by Kelleher in added time – and we may have liked Carsley to have made his substitutions a little earlier than the 77th minute.

Thirteen minutes wasn’t long for Morgan Gibbs-White, Eberechi Eze and Angel Gomes to make their mark.

Two of those players were debutants, though. Another nod to Carlsey’s desire to shape this England team his own way. It hasn’t been the smoothest couple of days for the 50-year-old in a country where he once felt rather at home. But Carsley’s pitch for the big job is up and running.

England swaggered to victory against the Republic of Ireland in front of a raucous Dublin crowd to give Lee Carsley a taste of victory in his first match in charge.