A comfortable victory over Greece in Athens on Thursday saw England move into pole position to earn automatic promotion from League B of the UEFA Nations League, with Lee Carsley now needing to pick up three points against the Republic of Ireland in his final game as interim manager on Sunday.
Ollie Watkins, starting in lieu of Harry Kane, opened the scoring at the Olympic Stadium with just seven minutes on the clock. Odysseas Vlachodimos was unfortunate to see the ball bounce off his back and over the line for England’s second after Jude Bellingham had struck the post before Curtis Jones added a stunning third with a back-heeled effort.
During his post-match press conference, Carsley fielded questions on his high-profile decision to bench Harry Kane and his thoughts on youngsters breaking through.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhat did Lee Carsley say?
“The most pleasing thing about tonight was the amount of control we played with and the shape was really good, we had a lot of possession, created a lot of chances and it was brilliant for Ollie [Watkins] to get a goal,” Lee Carsley told reporters gathered in the press conference room at Athens’ Olympic Stadium on Thursday evening.
The Aston Villa forward was chosen to start ahead of Harry Kane, with Carsley’s decision to bench the England captain rewarded after just seven minutes when Watkins slotted home the opener.
“It’s important that if we’re going to put these players in a position to go and win a World Cup, these players need to have as many experiences as they can so it’s no slight on Harry. He’ll start the next game,” Carsley confirmed, adding that the Bayern Munich frontman was “absolutely fine” after being informed he wouldn’t start against Greece.
“It’d be fair to say he wants to play every game like all top players do. I think he understands that it’s important for other players to experience that kind of experience that we had tonight, he’s a great example to the rest of the players and I expect him to start on Sunday and play well.”
Throughout his brief stint in charge following Gareth Southgate’s decision to step down after defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 final, Carsley has placed a constant emphasis on making space for younger players to shine on the senior stage. Curtis Jones took full advantage of the opportunity, finding the back of the net with a stunning back-heeled effort on his full debut, and Carsley remarked that “Curtis was outstanding tonight – he played with quality and matureness.”
Embed from Getty Images“I definitely have got faith in the younger players but I’ve got faith in the older ones as well. When you see the team, you may have thought that’s a bit of a gamble or a risk but I’ve got real confidence and belief in these players and I’ve seen evidence of it. it’s been backed up, and the fact they’ve now done it in an England shirt gives them a real challenge to continue doing that,” he added.
“I think the fact that now they’ve got that underneath their belts and they’ve come to a place like Greece, won and dominated, will put us in good stead for the future,” the 50-year-old noted, accepting that England now have two distinct generations of young players breaking through. “That’s how it needs to be,” he insisted, “because like I said, I think it was before the first Greece game, there’s a generation of U21 players that are just used to winning tournaments. Whether it’s the World Cup or the Euros, [when they’re] putting an England shirt on, they expect to win and that can only be good – not just for tonight, but for the future.”
England host the Republic of Ireland in the final game of their UEFA Nations League campaign at 17:00 GMT on Sunday, 17 November.