At precisely 4.59pm in Dublin, an act of great treachery took place. Nobody will forget where they were on the day when Lee Carsley from Birmingham stood and decided not to sing a song moments before leading England to an easy 2-0 win over the Republic of Ireland in their 2024 Nations League opener.
Has a victory ever tasted so bitter? Has the imagination of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s passing, the audacity of Jack Grealish’s dribbling and the general sense of an England team treating the ball like an old friend ever felt so irrelevant when placed next to the Shame of Carsley?
How can the nation be expected to move forward when its football team is led by a man merrily refusing to even mouth the words to the national anthem?
It had, of course, been another stunning effort from the unremittingly silly circus that likes to use English football as a way of keeping the culture war relevant. This was from the same playbook as previous episodes – the row over taking the knee, the fury over the woke rainbow kit – and it was impossible not to marvel at the fury reaching such a pitch that one article even argued that the only proper course of action for the Football Association would be to fire Carsley moments before kick-off at the Aviva Stadium.
Sadly, who would take the team in that scenario was unclear. Nigel Farage? An actual British bulldog? Certainly not the woke socialist Keir Starmer, who had made the trip to Ireland to watch Carsley begin to press his claim to take over from Gareth Southgate on a permanent basis.
Admittedly this was a storm that could have been avoided with a touch more foresight. Carsley, a former Ireland international, was naive if he failed to see the backlash coming. The irony was that choosing to stick to football – Carsley’s contention is that he has always been too deep in the tactical zone to break away for 30 seconds to singing the anthem – had left the 50-year-old open to criticism.
While the incident was a reminder of how expertly Southgate navigated everything away from the pitch during his eight years in charge, it is also possible to feel that the most important aspect of the job should be the football. After all, passion for the Three Lions was not enough to stop Italy’s Andrea Pirlo from running rings around England’s midfield in 2012 and 2014.
There is no doubt that culture and mood matter, not least because the England shirt once weighed so heavily on players. In his first match since replacing Southgate, though, the reality is that Carsley’s only misstep was heading for the wrong dugout after walking out of the tunnel before kick-off. Otherwise there was nothing but calm from the former Everton midfielder.
Carsley, who guided England’s Under-21s to glory at the European Championships last year, has immediately tried to imprint his image on the team. Promoting young players who know his methods was a smart, ambitious move. Starting Alexander-Arnold at right-back in an international for the first time in four years was a sign of the direction in which Carsley plans to head.
Ireland were ill-equipped to deal with Alexander-Arnold, who was never able to establish himself under Southgate. He was in chance creation mode straight away, whipping in a cross that Harry Kane headed over, and he played a key role in England’s opener. It was hard to imagine anyone else on the pitch being able to deliver the raking pass that cut Ireland open, urging Anthony Gordon to burst through before Declan Rice slammed home from close range.
There had been some early pressure from Ireland. England’s willingness to beat the press with some pretty triangles, though, suggested that they have corrected one of their weaknesses from the Euros. They played their way out, with Levi Colwill providing balance at left-back, and soon exposed Ireland’s deficiencies.
Rice, keen to silence a crowd unwilling to forget him deserting Ireland, was dominant alongside the gifted Kobbie Mainoo. Gordon, strangely overlooked by Southgate given England’s lack of width on the left last summer, stretched the play.
There was balance to the attack. Brought back after missing the Euros, Grealish was liberated in the No 10 position, his ability to wriggle out of tight areas a joy to watch and his knack of shielding possession an asset in international football. For England, this was all about making the ball do the work. Their second goal, exuberantly swept home by Grealish, came after some sumptuous one-touch passing.
With Alexander-Arnold embracing his hybrid role, confusing Ireland by drifting into midfield, there were signs of England moving forward. These are early days and the opposition in Nations League B2 is not the fiercest, making it difficult to assess Carsley’s merits over other candidates. After being shown the nature of the Impossible Job, though, he can take satisfaction from hitting all the right notes on the pitch.
