Having strength in depth in numerous positions can be a curse for an international coach looking to build a cohesive teamSign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here One pass was all it took. Eleven minutes in to England’s 2-0 win in Ireland on Saturday, Trent Alexander-Arnold picked up the ball about 15 yards outside his own penalty area. He saw Anthony Gordon making a run behind the Ireland defence from the left and drilled a perfectly weighted 60-yard pass for him. Although Gordon was thwarted by the Ireland goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher, and Harry Kane had an effort blocked as the ball was returned to the middle, Declan Rice then smacked in the loose ball to give England a 1-0 lead. Immediately, social media was aflame. This was what England had been missing. This was what might have happened had Gareth Southgate not been so obsessed with picking Kyle Walker. This was what happened when you took the handbrake off. Quarter of an hour later, a rat-a-tat of passes through the Ireland defence led to Jack Grealish, who had been left out of England’s squad for the Euros, sweeping in a fine second. Again the outcry, less in support of England’s interim manager, Lee Carsley, than against Southgate, his predecessor. Continue reading...

Ireland beaten 2-0 in interim manager’s first match‘I feel like we’re in a good position with the players’ Lee Carsley has opened up to ­feelings of self-doubt over his ­ability to ­manage England but has been emboldened by the success of his opening game against Republic of Ireland on Saturday. The interim manager saw his team win 2-0 in Dublin, the goals from Declan Rice and Jack Grealish ­coming during a dominant first-half per­formance. It got England’s Nations League Group B2 campaign off to a good start and, more significantly, did likewise with Carsley’s audition to replace Gareth Southgate on a ­permanent basis. Continue reading...

Interim manager will need support if he is to emulate Gareth Southgate’s navigation of off-field matters It required a double-take. Was that Lee Carsley, the new England manager, albeit on an interim basis, laying out the cones for a warm-up drill on the Aviva Stadium pitch before his first game in charge against Republic of Ireland on Saturday? The top man on the coaching staff almost never does this; he delegates to an assistant. But yes, it really was Carsley – doing what he does, setting out as he intends to go on. “Well, I do have my qualifications,” he said with a smile after overseeing a 2-0 victory that offered cause for optimism, even if the paucity of the opposition had to be considered. Continue reading...

Manager praises squad after opening reign with 2-0 winGrealish happy after ‘one of worst summers of my life’ A modest Lee Carsley played down compliments about his tactics and style of play after opening his reign as England’s interim head coach with a dominant 2-0 win over the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday night. Carsley, who is looking to land the job on a permanent basis after taking over from Gareth Southgate, preferred to direct the praise towards his players for beginning their Nations League campaign with a fine performance at the Aviva Stadium. The 50-year-old enjoyed victory in his first game thanks to early goals from Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, but he steered clear of accepting that England’s fluidity in possession was evidence of “Carsball” clicking into gear. Continue reading...

Updates from the 5pm BST kick-off at the Aviva StadiumBarney Ronay: Unheralded Carsley may be good fitGet in touch! Share your thoughts in an email to Tim Heimir Hallgrímsson names his first XI and opts for the experience of Seamus Coleman and Matt Doherty. Afternoon everyone and welcome to the post-Southgate era. It was eight years ago this week that the England men’s team last went into a match without a sensitive Gareth pep-talk ringing softly in their ears. On that occasion – Slovakia 0-1 England (Lallana 90+5) – the manager was Sam Allardyce, running the show for the first and last time. This evening in Dublin it’s Lee Carsley, a far less familiar figure and a far more enlightened coach. Continue reading...

Interim manager’s side face Ireland in Nations League‘It’s something I’ve never done. I am in a zone’ Lee Carsley has said he will not sing England’s national anthem when he takes charge of his first match as interim head coach against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday. Carsley, who was born in Birmingham but won 40 Ireland caps having qualified through a grandmother, is set to return to Dublin after succeeding Gareth Southgate for at least the start of the Nations League campaign. Continue reading...

Those familiar with the 50-year-old as a player and coach outline the qualities Southgate’s successor brings to the job If there was a precise moment when Kevin Kilbane knew his old friend was destined for the top, it came in 2016. Lee Carsley had been travelling from his home in the Midlands to stay at his former Everton and Republic of Ireland teammate’s house in Manchester after being named as Manchester City’s under-18 coach a few months earlier. “It was probably the best youth team I’ve ever seen,” Kilbane says. “I used to go and watch them on a Saturday morning and I could see the relationship he had with players like Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho and Brahim Díaz. Continue reading...

BBC Sport looks at those aiming to impress when England return to action for the first time since Gareth Southgate resigned as manager.