Lee Carsley said he sees trophy-winning potential with England and not the so-called “impossible job”, as he reflected on a confidence-boosting first camp in interim charge.
The manager recorded 2-0 wins over the Republic of Ireland in Dublin and Finland at Wembley, and the sense of positivity has done his chances of landing the role on a full-time basis no harm. He will remain as caretaker for the October and November windows, when England face Greece at home and Finland away, then Greece away and Ireland at home to complete their Nations League group campaign.
The England position has long been fraught with personal risk and even though Carsley’s predecessor, Gareth Southgate, transformed perceptions, he felt he had to step down after the negative reaction to the performances at Euro 2024 when his team lost in the final to Spain.
Carsley was asked how he felt when people called it the impossible job. “I’ve not heard that one,” he said. “I think it’s a really good job. It’s a job where … when you look at different opportunities, the first thing you think is: ‘Can you win? Can you be in a position where you can win?’ This job definitely ticks that box. We’ve got the players to be really …. not only competitive, but to win a major trophy.”
Carsley has admitted to having moments of self-doubt but the way the games went and the camp in general have gone some way to assuaging them. He said it “definitely couldn’t have gone any better in terms of the way the players responded to some of the concepts that we tried to put in place”.
He added: “From a confidence point of view, I think I’ve shown I can do it or we’ve shown that we can do it as a staff. I said at the first press conference we had that I feel like a safe pair of hands and I think we’ve shown that. It’s built up nicely for the next camp. The squad selection almost starts immediately with games on Saturday and Sunday. You move quite quickly on to that now so there’s no rest.”
Carsley will manage to fit in his regular Friday session at the Gordon Strachan Football Foundation in Warwick. He has been coaching aspiring 16- to 21-year-olds there for the past three years and his new role will not get in the way. In fact, he intends to road test a number of routines for his England squad on the students.
“I’ve got a few ideas which I want to try, it’ll be no different,” Carsley said. “I’ve got ideas from here that I want to try with them, leading up to the next game. There’s still a couple of things I want to improve on in terms of out-of-possession.”
As England Under-21s manager, Carsley had a good look at what Southgate had to contend with at senior level, yet nothing can really prepare anyone for the reality of the post. Carsley endured his first England storm when he announced he would not sing the national anthem and he has become acutely aware that being the manager is not only about coaching the players, even if it is what he most enjoys. So, after his baptism, is he still up for the job?
“Am I up for it … I think I am up for it,” Carsley replied, after a pause and not sounding entirely convinced. A point to remember: Southgate was initially unsure about whether to take the role before deciding to adopt a can-do approach.
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“My life will pretty much go back to normal when I get home,” Carsley continued. “I can’t see it changing. I’m very grounded in terms of the most important part of this job which, for me, is the football – making sure we create a good environment for the players to perform in.”
It has been hard to ignore the suggestion that Carsley has taken the handbrake off and enabled England’s creative talents to express themselves, whereas Southgate played with it on. It is unfair on Southgate because he oversaw plenty of free-flowing performances before the last Euros. The level of the opposition Carsley has faced must also be considered. Ireland are ranked 58th in the world, Finland 63rd. Southgate acknowledged the bounce that a new manager can get when he spoke to Sky on Wednesday. “What you see now is that bit of hope that change can bring and I am completely content with that,” he said.
Carsley has brought a glass half full attitude. “The first thing I look at in a player is what they’re really good at, rather than what they can’t do,” he said. “The stuff they can’t do we try and hide. When I first started coaching, I coached players like I played which, as you can imagine, wasn’t very good to watch. So I’ve had to adjust my way.
“We’ve got some really exciting players and it’s important that we give them the stage to do what they’re good at. That’s what we’ve tried to do over the last couple of games.”
Southgate is biding his time over his next move and said he was “very open-minded” about it. “I’ve got lots of opportunities,” he continued. “That might be in football, that might be outside of football.”