What did we learn from the International break?
The international break, three words that don’t really get the adrenaline pumping amongst most football fans, especially when we’re only 3 weeks into the new Premier League season and everyone is still frantically updating their FPL teams. Nevertheless, we’ve chosen to embrace it and with Lee Carsley taking charge of the England men’s national side for the first time after Gareth Southgate left the job, it was a chance for him to show everyone what his version of England looks like.
As a manager who has a great pedigree for working with young players and has enjoyed success with the England Under 21’s, having won the EURO’s with them in 2023, there was plenty of intrigue to see what his impact on the squad would be. His squad selection sprung a fair few surprises and included call ups for three players that played in his EURO winning Under 21 squad. Nottingham Forest’s talisman Morgan Gibbs-White, Angel Gomes who now plies his trade in Ligue 1 for Lille and in form Chelsea winger Noni Madueke were all given their first call ups, Tony Livramento was also included having suffered from long term injury issues. Whether Lee Carsley is only going to fulfil his interim role before the FA find a more suitable and reputable coach remains to be seen, but he has certainly gone some way in changing the way that England play in the short space of time that he has worked with them so far.
Now, before we start to analyse England’s peformances in detail we must stress that the quality, or lack of, the opposition clearly played a role in allowing England the freedom to play in the way that they did for sustained periods against Ireland and Finland. It was however a good chance for Carsley to experiment with a few tactical ideas and try to give England a new identity, appeal to fans that want to see England play a more attractive brand of football, and lay the foundations for the future as we look towards the 2026 World Cup.
Ireland vs England
As the England team took to the pitch against Ireland they were followed in numbers by a noisy contingent of away supporters at the Aviva stadium. The England players are always backed in force when they travel away from home and this game was no different. Hostility was in the air as the Irish, still seething about the traitorous acts of Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, hoped to see their team record a first win against England since that famous day in Stuttgart at EURO 88 when they pulled off a 1-0 win.
England’s first half performance was promising, and most notably England had changed their shape. Trent Alexander-Arnold played as an inverted right back and shifted up alongside Kobbie Mainoo which allowed England to control the game and also meant that Declan Rice could push up into a more advanced role in the middle and crash into the box to score the first goal. An exquisitely placed shot into the top right corner put England 1-0 up in the 11th minute to the delight of the away fans behind the goal.
The tactical shape deployed by Carsley had paid off early doors and below you can see the average player positions of the England team against Ireland compared to the shape that Southgate went with in the final of EURO 24, with Declan Rice highlighted to show how he was pushing higher up the pitch. Rice was one of those players who has been criticised for underperforming in Germany but played in a deeper role throughout the tournament, perhaps by taking inspiration from Arteta and giving him more license to get forward, Carsley has unlocked the best from him again in an England shirt.
Rice given license to get forward
(Source: https://www.whoscored.com/)
Another key change that Carsley made was the inclusion of Gordon on the left hand side, who’s pace and direct running in behind gave Ireland countless problems to deal with. This, combined with Trent’s positioning and world class passing ability led to Gordon going 1 on 1 with Kelleher in the build up to the first goal. You can see below how Gordon’s runs were able to stretch the Irish defence and Trent would have been anticipating those runs every time he picked up the ball in the middle of the park, allowing him to go into full ‘quarter back’ mode.
Trent & Gordon combine
(Source: https://www.whoscored.com/)
England went 2-0 ahead after a fluid one touch passing move on the 26th minute involving Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo and Bukayo Saka was eventually finished off with a low shot into the bottom corner by Jack Grealish who celebrated emphatically and looked like he enjoyed every second of it. I’m sure Carsley would have enjoyed it just as much watching on from the sidelines seeing his England side playing attractive football and getting the results to show for it after just 26 minutes of his tenure.
The start of the second half saw Ireland come back into the game with an attacking flurry, Ipwich Town winger Cheodozie Ogbene caused England problems down the left hand side, Sammie Szmodics also looked lively and he came close to scoring after some good work from his Ipswich teammate on the wing. The game however eventually faded out as England regained control of the tempo and Ireland started to look tired. Angel Gomes and Morgan Gibbs-White both came on as substitutes and made their England debuts, hugely proud moments for both players. Morgan Gibbs-White is the first Nottingham Forest player to represent England since 1997 and as a Forest fan myself, I know that me and all other Forest supporters were immensely proud to see one of their own wear the three lions on their chest for the senior team once again.
England vs Finland
We travelled to Wembley last night to see how Carsley’s side fared in their second game of the international break. No matter how many times you make the walk from Wembley Park up to the stadium there is something quite special about that journey up Wembley Way. Seeing the famous arch as you exit the station and take the steps down to the tunnel underneath the Sir Bobby Moore bridge and watching the stadium grow in size as you continue to walk, it is a footballing pilgrimage that will never get old for many English football fans.
Matchday programme and walking up Wembley way
Exiting Wembley park station
The main focus of the game was to pay tribute to former England manager Sven Goran-Eriksson who sadly died just over 2 weeks ago, he was featured on the cover of the matchday programme which included some resounding and heart warming recollections from some of the players who played under him. The game also saw Harry Kane make his 100th appearance for England, a huge achievement which places him into an exclusive club of players including Sir Bobby Moore, Wayne Rooney and David Beckham. Harry Kane is often undervalued by England fans, criticism against him came mainly after EURO 24 where some people rightly called for Ollie Watkins to replace him after several lacklustre performances, but when you see him in play in person it really makes you realise that he is an absolutely phenomenal player and deserves to be given credit for all he has achieved with his country.
The main change made by Lee Carsley for this game was to bring in Rico Lewis in place of Levi Colwill, meaning that England played with 2 inverted full backs with Trent on the opposite side. This is an experimental shape which we never saw under Gareth Southgate and can be seen by looking at England’s average positions below. Rico Lewis is a Pep prodigy and is probably the best example of a modern day full back, as we have seen the use of inverted full backs emerge and rise exponentially in the last 2 years in what you could label as the ‘Pep revolution.’ If Lewis can thrive in Lee Carsley’s system then that could go a long way to fixing a big problem that England have faced at left back, with Luke Shaw suffering from persistent injury issues and no other real talents emerging with the sufficient quality to fill that role.
England average positions vs Finland (3: Rico Lewis, 2: Trent Alexander-Arnold)
(Source: https://www.whoscored.com/)
Despite Englands dominance in the first half, a combination of some superb last ditch defending and Harry Kane’s 23rd minute header being ruled out for offside meant that the score was tied at 0-0 at half time. England’s high line was caught out on a couple of occasions by Finland’s counter attacking style and Aberdeen’s summer signing Topi Keskinen curled a shot just past Jordan Pickford’s post in the 21st minute after a quick break. Keskinen who, by the way, bizarrely has a tattoo of Wayne Rooney fishing on his arm (picture below… Yeah, we don’t know either).
(Image: BBC Sport)
In the second half, England were utterly dominant and played the majority of the 45 minutes in Finland’s half. The tactical shape, high press and quality in wide positions was too much for Finland to deal with in the end despite a superb goal keeping performance from Bayer Leverkusen keeper Lukas Hradecky. Hradecky made an impressive string of saves including an excellent stop to deny Harry Kane’s powerful drive from a free kick in the 53rd minute. He could do nothing about Harry Kane’s first goal of the match however, as he rifled a shot that cannoned off the crossbar and into the back of the net in the 57th minute. A perfect way to mark his 100th cap. It got even better for Kane as he found the net for the second time in the 76th minute, Trent Alexander-Arnold involved again, as he was against Ireland, with a defence splitting one-two with substitute Noni Madueke who burst into the box, cut back for Kane who calmly swept the ball into the far corner of the goal.
Madueke and Eze were bright sparks off the bench and brought dynamism, speed and directness to England as they started to tire in the second half. I’m sure that we will be seeing much more of both of them in the Nations League games in October. Angel Gomes played the full 90 minutes after making his debut against Ireland and showed a lot of supporters who would have been watching him for the first time just what he is all about, technically excellent with a low centre of gravity. His numbers show that he had 131 touches, 94.3% passing accuracy and made 1 key pass (source: https://www.whoscored.com/). It was promising to see a product of England’s academy play his first full game for the senior side and while Carsley is in charge it seems likely that we will see a lot more of him too.
Morgan Gibbs-White didn’t get on the pitch which will have caused him some disappointment after his promising cameo against Ireland. It will be intriguing to see whether he is picked for the squad in October when England will likely have Jude Bellingham back from injury, and potentially Cole Palmer and Phil Foden as well.
A final point on the atmosphere inside Wembley, it is something that gets talked about quite a lot and I understand some supporters frustrations about the lack of a real atmosphere in the stadium. My take on it is that I never go to an England qualifier or Nations League game at Wembley and expect to see a bouncing atmosphere, for me these games are more of an opportunity for families to go and watch England and experience Wembley, which will create memorable moments for younger children and get them into watching football. I personally don’t mind it and I can see it for what it is, but I also wouldn’t be against some games being away from Wembley in traditional club grounds where it may be more likely for an atmosphere to be generated. Credit to the Finland fans however who did make a good noise and were literally bouncing for long periods of the match.
The international break might have felt like it came at a poor time and many will be happy to see the back of it, but it was a successful one for the England squad, one that Carsley and particularly the debutants will look back on with pride. It has given England fans hope of seeing a tactical evolution which fingers crossed, may lead to some tournament success in the future.
Nations League round up
Gyökeres & Isak
Despite being in the Nations League C, Sweden might just have the best strike duo in Europe right now. Viktor Gyökeres has been on fire since joining Sporting Lisbon from Coventry in the summer of 2023, he already has 7 goals in 4 games in Liga Portugal this season and doesn’t look like stopping after forging an outrageous partnership with Newcastle striker Alexander Isak for his national team. During the 2 games against Azerbaijan and Estonia, Gyökeres managed a whopping 3 goals and 2 assists, while Isak bagged himself 3 goals, 2 of which were set up by his superb strike partner. Keep an eye out for Sweden over the next few years.
(Source: https://www.facebook.com/TransfersNews)
San Marino finally winning a game
San Marino have finally won a game of football! For the first time in 20 years, San Marino ended their winless drought with a 1-0 win against Lichtenstein. Ironically, Lichtenstein were the last team that they beat back in 2004. Unbelievable scenes.
Federico Dimarco’s wondergoal
Italy recorded a brilliant result in their Nations League fixture winning 3-1 away against France. The Azzuri’s first goal from Federico Dimarco was an absolute stunning volley which is well worth watching the highlights for. Are Italy still a force to be reckoned with in Europe?
Written by Joe Horne
