John Stones believes that Lee Carsley’s style of play is making England begin to resemble a Pep Guardiola team.
Carsley, who is thinking of ways to get Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer into the same starting 11, has not been afraid to make changes to tactics and personnel since taking over from Gareth Southgate on an interim basis.
England played on the front foot during their victories against Finland and the Republic of Ireland in the Nations League last month, while the sense of a greater emphasis on possession, fluidity and playing out from the back has not been lost on Stones, who will captain the national side for the first time on Thursday with Harry Kane not fit enough to start.
The Manchester City defender knows Guardiola better than most and he was full of positivity when it came to whether Carsley can be compared to his manager at club level.
“In ways, yes, definitely,” Stones said. “Everyone has got their own unique style and I think there are similarities throughout every manager in what they want. There are a lot of similarities between Lee and Pep in how they see the game and how they want us to play and I think we saw that last month when we played the two games. It’s been great for me with the likenesses of how we play.”
Carsley’s hopes of securing the job on a permanent basis will grow if England can take control of Nations League Group B2 by beating Greece at Wembley on Thursday. A convincing performance is just as important, though, and it remains to be seen how Carsley resolves the selection issue around Bellingham, Foden and Palmer given that they all want to play centrally. The manager acknowledged that his vision for the trio cannot come at the cost of the team’s balance. “I’ve definitely got a plan in place,” he said. “The beauty of this job is you get a lot of time to think. In between driving from game to game you are constantly thinking about combinations, relationships.
“Those three players are brilliant players but we have a squad of really, really exciting, talented players. You have to have that feeling that you’ve earned your place rather than try and shoehorn players into positions.”
Palmer was named this week as England’s player of the year, even though he has started in only two of his nine appearances at international level, and Carsley wants to protect the Chelsea attacker from unrealistic expectations. “Whatever you throw at Cole he deals with,” he said. “But that shouldn’t give us the right to keep putting pressure on him and hyping him up.
“Ultimately, he’s still a young player, he’s still got a lot of improving to do. Even though he’s at an incredible limit at the moment, I still think he can get better. With all of the young players we have to make sure we look after them. Supporting them is a big thing. But I’ve definitely got no worries about Cole.”
Carsley suggested he sees Foden, who has struggled to find his City form for England, playing centrally. “Phil’s an unbelievable player,” he said. “We need to make sure we put him in positions where he can really affect the opposition. That’s where I see him playing – anywhere he can hurt the opposition. Sometimes playing him in wider positions, he can do it but we’d have to change the way we play to get the best out of him. I think in central areas Phil’s at his most effective.”
Jack Grealish is a doubt to face Greece, and Kane will not start owing to what Carsley called “a small knock”. Ollie Watkins may come in as striker, although there is a possibility that Bellingham could start up front and open the door for Foden to play in a deeper central midfield role.
