Abhay Singh
Interim manager Lee Carsley announced on Wednesday that Harry Kane will not be in the starting lineup for England’s upcoming Nations League match against Greece.
Instead, John Stones will lead the team as captain for the first time. This decision marks an important milestone for Stones, who is set to take on a new leadership role within the squad.
The team will look to capitalize on his skills and guidance to secure a victory in this crucial game.
“Harry’s nursing an injury, a small knock”
Since coming to the England camp, Kane has been working out alone after suffering a right leg injury during a Bayern Munich game over the weekend. With a game against Finland on Sunday, Carsley is unwilling to take a chance on his striker on Thursday.
Carsley said “Harry’s nursing an injury, a small knock; it’s something that we won’t take a chance with, We’re not ruling him out just yet, but he won’t start the game, hopefully he’ll be in contention then for Sunday. Time will tell, it’s not something I think we should be rushing.”
Carsley has selected John Stones, a 30-year-old defender for Manchester City, to wear the armband while his captain is on the sidelines.
“It was a great conversation that I was able to have with John last night, to have that responsibility to ask him to captain the team,” added Carsley “It’s a brilliant achievement for John, something that he deserves, the amount of caps he’s got, the experience he’s got, the level of professionalism that he shows within the squad, and the example he is to the younger players.”
“Definitely everything that I could have dreamed of as a kid”
When Carsley broke the news to Stones, the excited actor said he was at a loss for words.
Stones said “Definitely everything that I could have dreamed of as a kid, more for my family I think, to be able to see me walk out as England captain is a special moment and one that I can’t thank Lee enough for, As he said, a great conversation that we had last night and one that I was a bit speechless in.”
Carsley stated that Jack Grealish took a small knock during Tuesday’s practise and would be evaluated further, but he is unwilling to take a chance on any of his players’ availability.
Cole Palmer, a midfielder for Chelsea, has scored six goals in his first seven league games. He has had plenty of opposition to return to the team, but he could play against Greece despite missing England’s last two games.
Carsley said “Cole is in fantastic form; I think he’s carried that into this week, he’s such an exciting player, a player that I’ve worked with for four or five years now, Cole, along with a lot of the other attacking players, have put themselves into a great position to start the game tomorrow.”
“I think we’ve got a lot of options to choose from in terms of our attacking players. I think it’s just really important that we try and find that balance. We’ve got two games, a lot of options and hopefully, we can get a real attacking performance tomorrow.” He added.
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