Lee Carsley: England boss expects to return to U21s but refuses to rule himself out as Gareth Southgate's successor

Interim boss Lee Carsley reveals he expects to return to his role with the England U21s; Carsley suffered first defeat as England boss as Greece won 2-1 at Wembley Stadium; he refused to rule himself out of the running for the senior role

Friday 11 October 2024 11:42, UK

Lee Carsley is refusing to rule himself out as Gareth Southgate's permanent successor but has admitted he expects to return to the England U21s.

Carsley suffered his first defeat as interim boss at Wembley Stadium on Thursday evening, as Vangelis Pavlidis' double fired Greece to their first victory against England.

The 50-year-old had previously won his opening two fixtures and was tipped to become the permanent England boss but is now hesitant to comment on his chances of securing the role.

"I said at the start, I wouldn't rule myself in or out and that's still the case," he said. "I'm more than comfortable in my position, where I am. The remit was clear, I'm comfortable and confident with that.

"After the first camp, I definitely didn't get too excited or believe too much. I'm very aware this job is one of the best in the world, in terms of having a chance of winning a major competition. That's still the case."

Carsley added: "Nothing's changed from the first press conference. It's a fantastic job.

"I'm lucky to have a good job as it is with the U21s, but after the first camp with winning both games with two good performances, my ambitions didn't change.

"It's important to give it everything I've got for the next three games. I'm really happy in terms of the communication I have with my bosses, nothing's changed in that respect."

Pushed for an answer on whether he was interested in the role, Carsley added: "Nothing's changed in that respect. My remit was to do the three camps and then hand over."

Carsley formation risk backfires

Carsley also admitted England only trialled the new formation for 20 minutes in the build-up to their clash with Greece.

The former U21 head coach was without talisman Harry Kane due to injury but instead of playing alternative forwards such as Ollie Watkins or Dominic Solanke, he went without a recognised striker to lead the line.

Anthony Gordon, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer all got forward sporadically in more flexible roles as England struggled to threaten throughout the Nations League meeting.

Bellingham's late effort looked as if it had rescued a draw for the Three Lions after Pavlidis' opener, only for the Greece striker to add a second to win the game in stoppage time.

"I think we were probably second best for a lot of tonight," Carsley said. "It's disappointing. We spoke about it in there, we're going to get setbacks, it's important now that we respond well against Finland."

Carsley did not rule out trying the same system ahead of the next clash against Finland on Sunday, but said: "We tried something different, we tried to overload the midfield, play a little bit differently.

"It's something we tried for 20 minutes yesterday, it's something we experimented with and it was disappointing that it didn't come off. But I think it was probably unrealistic to expect too much and I think it's a case of trying again."

Carsley has no regrets

Despite the decision to go without a recognised striker backfiring, with England only registering one shot on target before Bellingham's stunning goal that almost rescued a draw, Carsley stood by his choice of tactics.

He said: "With the players we've got, we've got to be courageous at times with our systems and be creative.

"I could've quite easily have gone with a recognised No 9 - we had two on the bench - but I thought it was important to try something different.

"After the last two games I never thought I'd got it cracked, I wanted to try something different. I'll take the blame for that, it was totally my idea. I thought about it long and hard, how it might look, how it might build and how it might feel.

"It didn't come off tonight, but I don't think we should rule out the opportunity of trying something different."

Carsley will not change approach: 'I want to attack'

However, Carsley believes his attacking approach will "win more games than not" despite it backfiring in the embarrassing Wembley defeat.

"My position and my understanding of coaching, I want to attack," he said.

"You've seen the teams play [at U21s level]. It's something that's really important to me and with that you do lose games. You do lose some games.

"It's not ideal, of course it's not, but with that mentality I've found that you definitely win more games than not.

"It's very disappointing tonight but nothing changes in terms of the way that I see the game. It's not affected how I see it."

Carsley 'still has a lot of belief in the squad'

Meanwhile, Carsley now has a lot to mull over ahead of Sunday's match against winless Finland, saying "we'll definitely be freshening up the team for the next game".

Bukayo Saka is a doubt for the trip to Helsinki after limping off against Greece, but Kane and Jack Grealish could feature after missing Thursday's match with knocks.

"I didn't think we had as much control of the game as we have in the last two games, bearing in mind that's the third game that we've [had as an interim coaching group]," Carsley added.

"I'm really reluctant on getting too down on the players. I've still got a lot of belief in that squad. I think they're an outstanding squad and hopefully respond well in the next game."

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