He doesn’t want to say he wants the job permanently, but Lee Carsley is certain he knows how to do it.
Carsley, who has been handed the role of interim England manager Gareth Southgate, named his first team on Thursday and it is a brave one. It is full of players he knows from his time as Under-21 manager, and it is a list with his name on it.
And while he would not enter into a discussion about whether he wanted to take the job long-term, the 50-year-old was clear about what England must do now if they are to win a major summer tournament.
“I want our players to be good on the ball and our team to be attacking and expansive,” Carsley said Thursday night.
‘There’s nothing worse than standing on the sidelines and thinking, “We’ve lost control here. We can’t get the ball back and if we get the ball back, we can’t keep it.”
Lee Carsley believes England must learn to control matches if they want to win a major tournament
The 50-year-old announced his first squad as he prepares for his first match as interim manager
‘That’s definitely something we need to get better at.
“If we want to win a European Championship and a World Cup, we have to push it further. It’s a bit of a confidence thing for us. It’s about having players in the biggest moments and the biggest games who can take the ball and play it.
‘I think we have a lot of players within the lane now who are used to winning [with England]. But the control thing is definitely something we have to get better at. I’m not sure if they’re going to do it tomorrow. But it has to be the plan. Otherwise it’s 50-50. We might win one, we might not.
“The next head coach that comes in has to win one, and then another, and then another. We don’t want to take away the luck, but the fortune, maybe.”
Southgate’s England reached the final of the European Championship in Germany, losing to Spain, against a backdrop of criticism of their style of play. Carsley’s Under-21 side had won their version of the tournament the year before, coincidentally beating Spain in their final match.
“I didn’t think we were in control that day but we won the game,” Carsley reflected.
Much of what Carsley does in the coming Nations League games – which begin with a match against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin next Saturday – will be judged in the context of the Southgate years.
Carsley offered debut call-ups to players including Tino Livramento (left) and Angel Gomes (right)
But there was no room for Kyle Walker, who has not yet played for Manchester City this season
Southgate won games but not always friends and one of the criticisms was that he focused on reputation rather than form and was accused of being too loyal to certain players.
From that perspective, Carsley’s first-team squad feels fresh. No Kyle Walker – due to a lack of playing time for Manchester City – and still no Marcus Rashford. Yet there are debut call-ups for Tino Livramento, Morgan Gibbs-White and, most intriguingly of all, former Manchester United midfielder Angel Gomes, now in France, for Lille. There are also welcome returns for Jack Grealish and one of Southgate’s favourites, Harry Maguire.
As for his own position, Carsley remains stubbornly coy. Yesterday he refused to say whether he wanted the job long-term, or even whether he would apply for it at all. He would, he said, be happy to return to the Under-21s if that was the FA’s wish.
That’s not to say the former Derby, Everton and Ireland midfielder isn’t proud, and he also touched on the journey he’s taken to get to this point.
“I’m not sitting here having played one season in the Premier League and one in the Championship and having been on Sky and doing a bit of commentary,” Carsley mused.
‘I’ve really built a strong foundation in my coaching career, from driving the minibus in Coventry for the Under 18s, to doing the Under 15s on a Wednesday night, to coaching the college team in Solihull on a Wednesday afternoon. To where I am now.
‘That’s why I don’t feel overwhelmed by this situation, in terms of the expectation and everything else. Every time we would pick an Under-21 team, we expected to win, we expected to play in a certain way. I can’t imagine it would be any different with the senior team.’
The former Everton midfielder has indicated he does not feel overwhelmed by his current position
It will be different, of course. It will be very different. Carsley admitted that he was listening to a radio interview about the England team last week and suddenly realised they were talking about him. He will get used to that and his perspective may change as a result. For now, he is certain of where this group of England players are headed and that was encouraging.
“We are potentially entering a unique period, which will pass, where we have some excellent players, some really good talent,” he said.
“Someone has to get the absolute best out of them. The best person for the job will do that.”