As he prepares to audition for the impossible job, the big question for England’s interim manager Lee Carsley is whether he can get the team playing the kind of exciting, attacking football that Gareth Southgate was either unwilling or unable to coach.
There is no quibbling over Southgate’s results across his eight years in charge — he led England to nine knockout wins in four major finals, three more than they managed between 1968 and 2016 — but his critics claimed they did not win well enough.
In the end, there was something in this, as a Spain team widely regarded as less complete than England at the start of the summer outclassed Southgate’s side in the Euro 2024 Final in July, playing an attractive brand of passing football.
Carsley may be unglamorous and widely unknown, but he has a record of winning a tournament with the kind of progressive football that many of Southgate’s critics have long wanted to see from England.
Two summers ago, Carsley’s England Under-21s did what the seniors and England Women could not, by beating Spain in a Euros final — this country’s first success in the competition since 1984, denying their opponents what would have been a fourth title in 12 years.
And they did so playing outstanding football which was fluid, inventive, easy-on-the-eye and, above all, effective.
Carsley’s U-21s dominated the ball, but it was not the sterile possession of England at this summer’s Euros, when Southgate’s side tended to sit back on one-goal leads and struggled to break down stubborn opponents.
Across six games in Georgia, the U-21s did not concede a single goal, but nor did they play the solid, safety-first football of Southgate’s England.
If Carsley can get England playing with a similar verve against the Republic of Ireland, for whom the former Everton midfielder won 40 caps as a player, qualifying through his grandmother, and Finland this month, it would go a long way to putting him in the frame to permanently succeed Southgate.
Carsley’s senior squad for the Nations League double-header suggests there could be some through-lines from his U-21s.
Among the most intriguing players to earn a call-up is Lille midfielder Angel Gomes, a London-born 24-year-old who came through the ranks at Manchester United before moving to France in 2020.
Typically an attacking midfielder, Gomes played in a deep role for Carsley’s U-21s, at the base of a two-man midfield, and was outstanding at the U-21 Euros.
Though he never appeared to be a part of Southgate’s thinking, central midfield remains a problem area for England, and Gomes will be hoping his role can translate to the seniors, where he will presumably be competing with Kobbie Mainoo and Conor Gallagher for a place next to Declan Rice.
Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon and Chelsea trio Levi Colwill, Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer, who last night withdrew through injury, are the other veterans of Carsley’s Euros winners to make the squad, along with Rico Lewis and Tino Livramento, who have also played for him at U-21 level.
Gordon, a wide player, was used as a false nine at the U-21 Euros, with support from Gibbs-White as a floating 10; the pair forming an unorthodox front two which best demonstrated the positional freedom of Carsley’s approach. He also instructed one of his full-backs — most often right-back James Garner — to join the midfield, which should be excellent news for Trent Alexander-Arnold, who already performs a similar role for Liverpool and now appears clear as England’s first-choice, after Carsley dropped Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier retired.
“In many respects, Carsley is the continuity candidate after Southgate.”
Carsley also pushed his left-sided winger — usually Emile Smith Rowe, who was not included in the squad, despite a bright start to the season with Fulham — inside to No10 to allow the left-back to get forward. Long-term, a similar set-up would should suit City’s Phil Foden, who will miss this camp through illness, but may highlight England’s shortage of a natural left-back, with the right-footed Lewis the most obvious contender to fill in this month.
For Carsley, however, having more experienced and established players does not necessarily make his job any easier when it comes to building an attractive, winning team in his image.
Playing a false nine, for example, is hardly an option for England when captain and record-goalscorer Harry Kane will lead the line and, if Carsley remains in the job beyond this month, he will probably face the same conundrum as Southgate in working out how to get the best from both Foden and Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham, who will also miss these games through injury.
Similarly, is there room for both Palmer and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, both great fits as the left-footed right-winger that Carsley has often favoured in the past?
And how will England’s players respond to being asked to play a more high-risk brand of football, given the unavailable pressure and scrutiny that comes with the shirt that is simply not a factor in the same way at U-21 level?
In many respects, Carsley is the continuity candidate after Southgate; another FA man, who has followed the same path as his predecessor in being promoted from U-21 level, albeit in an interim capacity.
While any candidate will be expected to build on Southgate’s legacy, Carsley’s hopes of landing the job may hinge on implementing a radically different style.
