Lee Carsley: England interim manager plays brand of football dubbed ‘Carsball’

One of the main criticisms of Southgate‘s tenure was he did not make enough of the attacking players he had at his disposal.

It was the most hotly debated issue of England’s run to Euro 2024, with plenty of debate about Phil Foden’s perfect position, Cole Palmer only being used from the bench and Anthony Gordon barely featuring.

When the England U21 side won the European Championship last summer, social media was rife with montages of the team’s attractive football – dubbed ‘Carsball’.

Those homemade edits resurfaced in the days after Southgate stood down and Birmingham-born Carsley was mooted as being among the contenders to replace him.

In contrast with former Everton and Derby midfielder Carsley’s playing career as a central destroyer, he encourages his side to build up with the ball and to express themselves.

At the tournament in Georgia his side was packed with technical players such as Liverpool duo Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones, and Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White.

He had a right-footed left-back in Bournemouth’s Max Aarons, Everton’s James Garner – a central midfielder – playing at right-back and Jones, a number 10, as one of his two pivots in midfield.

Jones played alongside Angel Gomes – now at Lille – who had already transitioned from a number 10 to a deep midfielder. Carsley resisted the temptation to put a traditional central midfielder next to him.

Moves often started with Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford passing out and players encouraged to express themselves and trust their decision-making.

There was one occasion when Chelsea defender Levi Colwill stood still on the ball for more than 30 seconds as he waited for the opposition to press him so he could draw in pressure, then initiate the attack – something the team had worked on in training.

Whenever England play, there is debate about how they fit in all of their best players. Looking at how Carsley set up his under-21s side, could he be the coach to fit together Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kyle Walker and Reece James – England’s glut of exceptional right-backs – and players such as Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Jack Grealish, Foden and Jude Bellingham into one team?

On the way to lifting the trophy in Georgia, when his side came up against Germany in the group stage, Carsley played Palmer in a number eight position in centre midfield and played the majority of the championship with Newcastle winger Gordon – who was named player of the tournament – as his main striker.

Gordon called Carsley the “best man-manager” he has had in his career and Liverpool’s Elliot has described him as an “unbelievable manager”.

Of course, there are players such as John Stones, Declan Rice and captain Harry Kane that Carsley has not worked with before but, since the under-21s lifted the trophy in Georgia, a large number of them have made the step up into the senior squad.