He will not say he wants the job permanently but Lee Carsley is pretty sure he knows how it should be done.
Handed the role of Gareth Southgate’s successor as England manager on an interim basis, Carsley named his first squad on Thursday and it was a brave one. Full of players he knows from his time as Under 21 coach, it is a list of players with his name on it.
And while he would not be drawn in to a conversation about whether he would like to take the job for the long-term, the 50-year-old was unequivocal about what England must do now if they wish to win a major summer tournament.
‘I want our players to be on the ball and I want our team to attack and to be expansive,’ said Carsley on Thursday night.
‘There’s nothing worse than being stood on the sideline and thinking: “We’re out of control here. We can’t get the ball back and when we do get the ball back we can’t keep it”.
Lee Carsley feels England need to learn to control games if they are to win a major tournament
The 50-year-old named his first squad as he prepares for his first game as interim manager
‘That’s definitely something we need to be better at.
‘If we’re going to win a Euros and win a World Cup, we have to push it further forward. It’s a bit of a confidence issue from us. It’s about, in the biggest moments and the biggest games, having the players that are capable of taking the ball and playing.
‘I think we’ve got a lot of players now within the pathway that are used to winning [with England]. But the control thing is definitely something we need to be better at. I’m not sure they’re going to do it tomorrow. But it’s got to be the plan. Otherwise, it’s 50-50. We might win one, we might not.
‘The next head coach that comes in, he’s got to win one, and then another, and then another. We want to remove, not the luck, but the fortune, maybe.’
Southgate’s England reached the final of the European Championships in Germany, losing to Spain, against a background of criticism of their style of play. Carsley’s Under 21 team won their version of the tournament a year earlier, coincidentally beating Spain in their last game.
‘I didn’t think we actually had control that day but we won the game,’ Carsley reflected.
Much of what Carsley does in the upcoming Nations League games – that begin with a fixture against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin a week on Saturday – will be judged in the context of the Southgate years.
Carsley offered debut call ups to the likes of Tino Livramento (left) and Angel Gomes (right)
But there was no place for Kyle Walker who has yet to feature for Manchester City this season
Southgate won matches but not always friends and one of the criticisms levelled at him was that he picked on reputation rather than form. He was also accused of being too loyal to certain players.
From that perspective, Carsley’s first squad feels fresh. No Kyle Walker – due to a lack of game time for Manchester City – and still no Marcus Rashford. Yet debut call ups for Tino Livramento, Morgan Gibbs-White and, most intriguingly of all, the former Manchester United midfielder Angel Gomes, now playing in France will Lille. There is also a welcome return for Jack Grealish and one of Southgate’s favourites, Harry Maguire.
Read More
LISTEN: The staggering amount an agent was paid for working on a deal for only 90 MINUTES
In terms of his own position, Carsley remains stubbornly coy. Yesterday he refused to say whether he wanted the job in the long-term, or indeed whether he would even apply for it. He would, he said, be more than happy to return to the Under 21s if that was the FA’s wish.
None of that is to say the former Derby, Everton and Republic of Ireland midfielder is not proud and he touched briefly on the road travelled to reach this point.
‘I’m not sitting here, having managed one season in the Premier League and one in the Championship and having been on Sky and done a bit of punditry,’ Carsley reflected.
‘I’ve built really strong foundations in my coaching career, from driving the minibus at Coventry for the Under 18s to doing the Under 15s on a Wednesday night, to coaching the college team at Solihull on a Wednesday afternoon. To where I am today.
‘That’s why I don’t feel overawed by this situation, in terms of the expectancy and all the rest of it. Every time we’d pick an Under 21s team, we expected to win, we expected to play in a certain way. I can’t see that being any different with the senior team.’
It will be different, of course. It will be very different. Carsley admitted he found himself listening to some radio chat about the England team last week and suddenly realised they were talking about him. He will get used to that and as a result his outlook may change. For now, at least, he is certain about where this group of England players needs to go and that was encouraging.
‘We’ve potentially got a unique period of time, which will pass, where we’ve got some outstanding players, some really good talent,’ he said.
‘Someone needs to get the absolute best out of them. The best person for the job will do it.’
