Lee Carsley intends to return to a more familiar system against Finland in the Nations League on Sunday, as he looks for a reaction to England’s shapeless display in Thursday’s 2-1 Wembley defeat by Greece.
The interim manager went with an attacking 4-2-4, featuring Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer in central areas, only to see the team struggle for cohesion and defensive security, especially against Greece’s counters.
Carsley suggested he would not have gone with the system without a recognised No 9 if Harry Kane had been fit – the captain missed out with a minor groin problem. He is hoping to return in Helsinki.
The tactical plan was hatched at short notice, with Kane sustaining his injury for Bayern Munich on Sunday, and there was time to practise it only briefly on Wednesday. Yet Carsley made it clear that he would not rule out the approach as an option in the future, given his commitment to attacking football.
“I probably won’t try that again on Sunday,” Carsley said. “I have coached enough to know we need to do something different. Had Harry been fit I might have gone down another route. Do we need a reaction against Finland? Definitely. I have had enough setbacks in football to know you are never too far away [from one]. I have got to lead by example and I will. My belief in this team hasn’t changed.
“We tried something, it didn’t come off. It could have gone the other way and we are talking about: ‘We’ve found another way of playing.’ I’m really wary about ruling something out so quickly when we have literally done it for an hour [in training]. If any fingers get pointed, they’re at me.
“The way I want my teams to play, I want us to attack and when we had the players we had available, I wanted to try something different. It wouldn’t stop me trying something different in the future because I have done OK being like this. I had 17, 18, 19 years as a player being defensive and just sitting in there and playing on the counterattack. That is definitely not how I want to coach. If it did click, what we have seen in glimpses of training, there is definitely some potential there.”
The performance against Greece has changed the narrative around Carsley getting the England job on a permanent basis. But the Football Association will not allow one game, one roll of the dice that went wrong, to determine everything.
It has a confidential process in place and it remains ongoing, with no decision on Carsley anticipated before the end of his interim tenure. After Finland, he has the final two ties of the Nations League campaign in November – against Greece in Athens and the Republic of Ireland at Wembley.
Carsley, who retains a good deal of support within the FA hierarchy, continues to deflect all talk of the permanent job. He has always said his focus has been exclusively on the three sets of Nations League fixtures, the first of which brought wins against Ireland in Dublin and Finland at home in September.
“I know it is a boring answer but nothing changes in my respect,” Carsley said. “The remit was to do the three camps and nothing has changed. I know it went so well in the last camp … we have had a disappointing night, but I don’t get too high or too low.”
Carsley was asked about the feeling that it has been his job to lose. “I have definitely not felt that,” he replied. “I have tried to be as clear as I can in terms of what I am here to do. I have done this interim role [in] three places [previously] and tried to be as up front as I can. I am really privileged and feel really trusted that I am in this position.”
Carsley is set to make changes to his starting XI against Finland, with the defenders Kyle Walker and Marc Guéhi in contention to return. Kane trained on Friday and some of the players expect him to feature in Helsinki.
