England supporters are calling for Lee Carsley to be appointed as manager on a permanent basis after he steered the side to a convincing 2-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland.
Carsley’s refusal to sing the national anthem dominated the headlines heading into the Nations League opener but the 50-year-old interim boss silenced his critics with an impressive debut showing in Dublin.
The Three Lions implemented a cautious approach throughout much of Euro 2024 and Gareth Southgate’s tactics came under intense scrutiny in Germany, despite the team making it all the way to the final.
But Carsley’s side played with the handbrake off from the first whistle and the visitors’ positivity was rewarded as Declan Rice and Jack Grealish – both the target of loud boos inside Aviva Stadium – made it 2-0 inside the opening half an hour.
The hosts managed to restrict England in the second period but never really looked like reducing the deficit and Carsley will no doubt be delighted to open his tenure with maximum points.
‘There seems to be a willingness to pass it forward, pass it quicker,’ ex-England and Arsenal striker Ian Wright said at the half-time break.
‘There’s a lot more movement. Obviously he’s [Carsley] talking about playing with freedom.
‘I don’t want to give them too much [praise] because Ireland aren’t getting tight enough to them, but you have to say that they are moving it quicker, they are playing with a lot more freedom.’
England’s victory in Dublin was especially significant for Carsley given the manager won 40 caps for the Republic of Ireland as a player, qualifying for the country through his grandmother.
The FA have given no assurances over Carsley’s future in the role but the former Everton midfielder did very little to harm his chances in the Irish capital.
Carsley will look to make it two wins from two when England play host to Finland for their second group-stage match in front of a home crowd at Wembley on Tuesday night.
As Rice and Grealish both found the target to give England a healthy lead inside 26 minutes, fans took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to praise Carsley’s refreshing approach while calling for the interim manager to be handed the full-time job.
Speaking to ITV shortly after the final whistle, Carsley insisted his players deserved ‘all of the credit’ for the win.
‘I thought it was good in parts. I think you’ve seen some of the things that we’ve tried to do,’ Carlsey said.
‘The lads have got to take a lot of credit, well all of the credit. I think we’ve shown that we have some real talent.
‘We can be really pleased with the clean sheet as well.’
On Rice and Grealish’s first-half strikes, Carsley added: ‘I thought they both took their goals really well, really well-worked moves and brilliant finishes.
‘I think they can both, moving forward, score a lot more goals and add goals to their game.’
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