Lee Carsley expressed his immense satisfaction and excitement at witnessing England’s triumphant return to form in the Nations League tournament with a resounding 3-1 win over Finland during their away match on Sunday.
Despite the elation of the victory, the interim manager remains resolute in his stance, emphasizing that he was fully focused on the present moment and not allowing his thoughts to drift towards any potential permanent managerial role.
England is second in Group B2
Following a humiliating 2-1 home loss to the Greeks on Thursday, Jack Grealish, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Declan Rice scored at Helsinki Olympic Stadium to put England in second place in Group B2 behind Greece with nine points from four games.
Carsley was happy with his team’s reaction following their disastrous loss at Wembley, which was his first defeat since manager Gareth Southgate resigned, but he remained silent when asked about his future plans.
Carsley said “This job deserves a world-class coach who has won trophies and I am still on the path to that,”
“I keep saying the same thing. My remit was six games and I’m happy with that,” he added. “This is a privileged position. I’m really enjoying it but I didn’t enjoy the last two days. I’m not used to losing in an England team, I don’t take losing well. People are always going to try and put their chips on one side. I’m in the middle.”
Grealish and Rice had kind words for their stand-in boss
Following Sunday’s triumph, Grealish and Rice had nothing but praise for their interim manager.
Rice said “It’s been so refreshing, he’s been so honest, so upfront, just says to go out and play with freedom, and I think you can see us lads, we’re playing really well out there and, yeah, really enjoying our time under him,”
“There’s going to be bumps along the way, that’s football, it’s an up and down sport, nothing is ever going to be perfect.” He added.
After his magnificent close-range finish in the eighteenth minute of Sunday’s match against the visitors, Grealish, who was left out of Southgate’s selection for Euro 2024, now has four goals for England; two of those goals came under Carsley.
Grealish said “Whatever happens with the England manager, people will always say negative stuff, Before people were crying out for all attacking players to play and it didn’t work (on Thursday versus Greece). I don’t get it, it can happen in games. I love coming here, a top, top manager and I love playing for him.”
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