Perhaps, Lee Carsley was simply consumed by his focus on the opening minutes of his first game in interim charge of England. Because when the manager emerged to take his seat before kick-off and, yes, before the anthems, he turned right instead of left and sat down on the Republic of Ireland bench.
Old habits die hard for the former Ireland midfielder and he looked nonplussed when the error was pointed out and he was ushered towards his correct place. Yet if that felt like a bad omen, nobody connected to England ought to have worried.
