We are now in the final days of Lee Carsley’s stint as interim England head coach. The new dawn of Thomas Tuchel’s tenure begins in the new year.
It has been a period of great uncertainty following the departure of Gareth Southgate. Despite the fact Southgate had been in position for eight years and it had been widely expected he would step down after Euro 2024, there didn’t appear to be much of a succession plan in place.
If the FA had followed the same ‘pathway’ they did with Southgate’s promotion from the under-21s in 2016, Carsley would be the next in line, but what has been apparent is how quickly the FA abandoned any such plan — if one actually existed in the first place.
Even though he got off to a good start with wins in the Republic of Ireland and at Wembley against Finland, it seemed Carsley wasn’t seriously being considered for the job permanently after all.
If the FA wanted time to assess their options, Carsley provided the smokescreen for them to plot their next move. And now they have made it.
In the meantime, Carsley is set to return to the distinctly lower profile under-21 role, but has he enhanced his reputation?
Will Carsley roll the dice one last time?
There is no question Carsley is a dedicated and talented coach. The most notable aspect of his few months in charge has been his desire to be out on the grass preparing for a game with his players, rather than in front of the cameras talking a good game.
The players generally have enjoyed the experience.
In terms of being a manager and making the big calls in selection, Carsley certainly showed he wasn’t afraid to shake things up when he could.
With so many of the players who had appeared at Euro 2024 in Germany missing for his first camp, he picked a balanced squad and starting line-up that made the most of the talent at his disposal.
However, when he had all his big hitters back available for his second camp, he began to play fantasy football.
When you have so many talented attacking players to choose from what do you do? Carsley’s answer was to try and play them all in one game.
With Harry Kane unavailable, instead of playing one of his other No 9s, he decided to play three No 10s and two wingers in a display of all out attack.
It backfired spectacularly in the shock 2-1 home defeat to Greece, and perhaps convinced the FA that approaching Tuchel was the right call.
Carsley learned his lesson but with two relatively free hits to come, with his future now decided, will he have another roll of the dice?
Carsley is about to pick his final two starting England XIs (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Can England find a new role for Harry Kane?
At the age of 31, Kane’s status as England’s greatest ever goalscorer is assured and the conversation has already moved on to imagining life after the Bayern Munich forward.
Kane may argue, quite correctly, that he has many more years left in the tank and the desire to lift a major trophy must still burn bright in him, with just one last go — most likely — at the World Cup left in 2026.
However, his displays at Euro 2024 were so uninspired it was as if he had moved onto playing walking football prematurely. He may have been carrying injuries or fatigued from the sheer number of games he had played for club and country, but there is no doubt England need more from him.
He seems almost reluctant to run in behind and stretch defences any more.
With so many natural No 10s, does he need to drop so deep so often to gain possession? Probably not. And if he continues to do so then England need runners from other areas to add some pace to their attack and avoid becoming predictable.
All the attacking options are technically excellent now, like Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden, but England need more variety to unlock stubborn defences.
Fortunately for Kane, there aren’t many English No 9s making a compelling case for being his replacement.
Is it finally time for Morgan Rogers’ first senior minutes?
No need to offer a penny for the thoughts of Unai Emery. We can all guess how he must be feeling about Morgan Rogers’ call-up to the senior squad.
The Aston Villa boss was staunchly against Rogers playing for England’s under-21s, questioning what his young attacking midfielder would gain.
Now Rogers has a senior call-up, albeit due to the number of withdrawals, he probably won’t be much happier.
There has been a growing concern at Villa about the physical demands on Rogers with the club challenging in the Premier League and Champions League, and there is a desire to protect him to some extent.
On the other hand, Rogers has spoken of his dream to play for England and will be relishing the opportunity.
With Foden, Palmer, Grealish and Bukayo Saka all dropping out, there is a decent chance that he will get his opportunity to do so, and England fans will be excited to see what Rogers can do and whether he can replicate his club form on the international stage.
Emery will be watching on with his fingers crossed that nothing happens to his young talent, especially as Villa have already started to pick up a few other injuries.
Villa have been keen not to overload Morgan Rogers (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
Were the latest raft of withdrawals inevitable?
As the most recent round of Premier League matches played out over the course of last weekend, it was obvious that there would be a number of international withdrawals, so it was no surprise when Carsley’s squad was beset by absentees. Even the fact that a grand total of eight pulled out shouldn’t really be seen as hugely shocking.
We are only three months into the season and Manchester City have already played 18 games, and are suffering with a number of injuries as a result. Arsenal and Liverpool have played 17.
By the end of this international break there will have been a total of six Nations League games to add to the workload for the top players.
There will be those unsympathetic to players’ complaints about the scheduling but it isn’t the number of games, it is the intensity and pace of each one, and the demands to be at their best in every game, which takes its toll.
And yet still there are more games being added to the fixture list as competitions are expanding.
The current club and international scheduling is rapidly becoming unsustainable.
(Top photo: Eddie Keogh – The FA/Getty Images)
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