England: Lee Carsley reveals his Nations League ‘priority’ as he insists on ‘expansive’ playing style

Lee Carsley has commented on potentially being England’s next permanent manager and has revealed his plans to implement an expansive and attacking style.

Interim boss Carsley named his first England squad on Thursday and made nine changes to the group selected by Gareth Southgate for Euro 2024.

While England reached a second consecutive European Championship final under Southgate in Germany, he faced severe criticism following several sub-par performances and stepped down last month.

The Football Association has handed Carsley the reins throughout the autumn, which could result in the 50-year-old taking charge of six matches, and he is eager to bring in the football which helped England Under-21s taste Euros success in 2023.

“The majority of my teams when I was playing were very defensive. When I started coaching, it was something I wanted to try and get away from,” former Everton midfielder Carsley said.

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“I want our players to be on the ball, I want our team to attack. I want us to be expansive.

“But the opposite to that is, the defensive stuff is still really important. Making sure you’re in a position where you can dominate your opponent in and out of possession is a really big thing.

“It definitely wouldn’t be for me just to say: ‘Yeah crack on, all out and attack.’ It’s being in control as well, which is a big thing for us.”

Pep Guardiola is, remarkably, the favourite with the bookmakers to be the next permanent England manager, with Carsley second. We would suggest anyone looking at the Bovada sportsbook or indeed any other site would be best served backing the latter over the former.

And now Carsley has commented on being appointed England manager permanently, insisting he “understands” his “objectives”.

“To be honest I’ve not thought about it that much. Honestly, I’ve not,” Carsley said.

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“My priority is just doing a good job. The best person, whoever it is out there, whether it’s me or not, I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

“I was really – and still am – proud of being the under-21s head coach. I love that job. It’s a great job.

“I’ve got a great squad, a great group of staff. If this was to end as soon as I walked out the door I’d be more than happy handing it over to whoever.

“I understand my objectives for the next three months and that’s to do as well as we can in the Nations League.”

He added: “We’ve potentially got a unique period of time, which will pass, where we’ve got some outstanding players, some really good talent, someone needs to get the absolute best out of them.

“And we have done so far because we’ve got to the latter stage of tournaments, we’ve been so close. The best person for the job will do it.”