Carsley’s England ‘would’ve been murdered’ by Spain with Man City ‘false nine’ tipped to ‘replace’ Kane

The Mailbox reckons Lee Carsley’s England would have been ‘ripped to shreds’ by Spain at Euro 2024, while a ‘false nine’ could ‘replace’ Harry Kane.

Send your views to [email protected]…

Let the madness begin…

England beat Ireland and Finland playing quicker less defensively sound football than Southgate. Last night’s team would’ve been murdered by Spain in Euro 24. Ripped to shreds.

That Gordon, Grealish, Trent, Kane and Rice look good against 4th tier international teams is not news.

Kane is still the #9 who doesn’t score goals in semis or finals. Rice is still the central midfielder with a pass completion in the low 70s 2 Euros finals in a row. Trent still cant defend. Grealish is stumbling drunkenly into his 30s with a goal every 11 games for England and 1 in 9 for Man City. Gordon is a decent player but better than Bellingham or Foden? That would be some achievement.

But we beat Ireland and Finland so we can now move on from the ‘failure’ of getting to a World Cup semi final and 2 Euros finals. The madness is in full swing.

I wonder who will knock us out of the World Cup in 2026.

Ben

👉 READ: Rejuvenated Kane strikes gold as Trent and Gomes shine – rating England’s players against Finland

Easy parallels…

What conclusions might be drawn when new, possibly unfamiliar, possibly foreign (or “foreign-adjacent”) managers are bequeathed oft-analyzed and oft-discussed footballing sides with mostly recognizable faces in their squad, and sides perhaps within contention for silverware to boot? For me, it’s been interesting seeing all the early returns on Lee Carsley if only because they mirror (in spirit, at least) many of the things said about Arne Slot’s also still early tenure at Liverpool.

There’s undoubtedly been thoughtful dialogue about what England were doing under Southgate, and some of the predecessor’s tactics and selection etc compared to that of the new intake. In stark contrast, there’ve also been decidedly less thoughtful comments ranging from significance of singing a national anthem to crucial ability to not accidentally be sat in opposing dugouts at kickoff. All very heady stuff.

Similarly, someone in the mailbox said a few weeks ago that Arne Slot looked like Captain Underpants; I had to give this a quick DuckDuckGo query as I didn’t know who that was, but crikey, in all fairness he does! It’s early, but I’m pretty happy with Arne Underpants thus far and of course tougher tests are to come, and of course it is a marathon not a sprint. But on the same grounds I’d be pretty happy with Carsley too. If Slot can get Darwin firing like a resurrected Harry Kane, I’d be even more chuffed (although a brace against that Finnish backline could be a false dawn much like Darwin netting two against, say, a pairing of Slabhead and wee Lisandro with a side of Biscuithands or something). As I said, tougher tests surely await. Until then let’s just enjoy what’s put in front of us, just like they all only play what’s put in front of them.

Eric, Los Angeles CA (Sidenote: Winter(burn) is coming ! I enjoy our editor showing brass under the velvet when need be, Fat Man’s top story-Rabiot rant had me scratching my head in genuine confusion.)

👉 READ: Southgate’s England errors exposed by Gordon, Grealish as Carsley clamour gathers momentum

Harry Kane

A quick 2p about Harry Kane in line with your own piece: his England career has definitely reached the bit where the Oscars start playing the get-off-stage music.

This morning I saw a clip of Rory “Rob Edwards is my manager of the year” Smith giving one of his always correct opinions about Harry Kane maybe being the best England player ever. The BBC are dishing up all the stats about goals and caps. And the FA are preparing the kind of pre-match ridiculousness that will obviously only be surpassed by the annual poppy orgy in November.

(Not looking forward to the Telegraph and Mail trying to out-bats*** each other during that international break, if this one has been anything to go by. Jeff Powell is going to do himself an injury)

Whatever you think of these things, the point is, they only happen to players when it’s time to go away. We’re not asking if Jude Bellingham is one of our best players ever; we’ve got another 10 years to see what happens. Does anyone know or care how many caps John Stones has got? The reason we’ve started having the Kane discussion is because we all know it’s obituary time. Except he’s still here.

All we need for someone to get the Jeff Buckley album out is for some clown in the press to suggest He Could Do A Job In The Quarterback Role (my money is on Micah Richards), which was the final bang on the final nail in the coffin of Rooney’s and Beckham’s England careers.

Partly, this is a very wearying sign of English football’s never-ending failure to understand what players in that part of the pitch are supposed to do (Put Trent In There! Put Mainoo In There! Put Stones In There! Etc)

But also, it shows how scared we are of dropping players, especially those beloved by tabloid back pages. And so they hang around far too long and by the time they finally do one, nobody is ready to take over – see Sven/Schteve’s unchanging golden generation giving way to the ‘interesting’ 2010s of Jamie Carragher, Rob Green, Andy Carroll, Mark Noble, etc.

Obviously this is not going to happen under Carsley; booting Kane out is basically the best way not to get the job. But it’s notable how many English strikers have come into the side for a friendly here or there, missed one chance nowhere near as presentable as Kane’s header over the bar on Saturday, and been written off immediately. But we need an option for 2026 and we need it quickly.

Neil Raines

📣TO THE COMMENTS! Should Lee Carsley become England’s next permanent manager? Join the debate here

Feel free, fellow mailboxers, to mock me on this one.

I’ve often thought England’s Harry Kane replacement could be our sumptuously talented Phil Foden, playing in a 2012 Francesc Fabregas false nine – role.

Double bubble – this allows Jude, Cole, Jack and LC’s favourite MGW to fight it out for the 10 spot. And gives Tony Gordón free reign on the left.

I think Foden could work here and his still tender age allows continuity until some current fourteen year old becomes the next Owen.

Peter. ( happy for Carsley to get the full-time job ) Andalucia.

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Carsley over-praised…

Is it me or is Lee Carsley getting far more praise than due for his start as England Manager?

Firstly, he couldn’t have been gifted two better games to start off with. Obviously the likes of San Marino are worse but then anything lower than 7 or 8 nil is frowned upon. I think it has been underestimated how bad Rep of Ireland and Finland are, there is a very strong argument that an aggregate score of 4-0 is fairly poor.

Secondly, the poor opposition has allowed him a couple of quick wins with the team selection. He;s clearly followed the clamour of the Summer and criticism of Southgate and dropped Gordon and TAA into the team based on this.

Finally and most importantly, injuries and drop outs have worked in his favour greatly. It seems clear that our best formation is two CMs, a 10, two wide players and Kane. The players available fitted into this perfectly with no “big names” dropped. The issue he will have is when fit, you have Grealish, Foden, Bellingham and Palmer all competing for that No. 10. Of course he can try to fit more than one in by shunting one wide left, but then you get a repeat of the Summer (Palmer could go right but then you are dropping Saka which would make no sense). So, well all the players are available, he either fits them in (causing imbalance, a lack of width etc, basically what Southgate did) or he drops 3 big name players, the media will target this and I don’t think the dropped players will make it easier for him.

Time will tell and of course, he’s done enough to take the job full time. The problem with England is that the real, and only test, comes during tournaments.

James, NFFC (Forest are going to get a point at Anfield on Saturday, probably 1-1)

Anthem schmanthem

If I was good enough to play for Scotland, I wouldn’t sing the anthem. I’m a terrible singer and the close-up camera and mic would be horrendous and I’d never live it down.

Stand there for a minute boys while they go through the pageantry nonsense and focus on the game ahead

England really is a strange place.

Martin, Peckham

👉 READ: Carsley anthem anger is ‘stupidity for consumption by the stupidocracy’

The game’s gone!

First the national anthem business, then picking players based on form and now this attacking & exciting football (even after going 1-0 up), what is Carsley doing? Does he have no respect for any English traditions?

Gaurav MUFC Amsterdam (game’s gone!)

It’s just maths…

You almost got my argument right but did mischaracterise it a little.

I never said I was happy with price rises, I said if you want shiny new players they need shiny new coins to do so, that didn’t seem all that uncontroversial really.

It’s just a simple reality. If you’re not willing to pay for price rises (I’m not) then you can’t complain about a lack of spending (I don’t). The money spent by football clubs now is determined entirely by the income of the club, gone are the days of wealthy owners pumping money in.

If you think I’m wrong then I’m happy to accept it. Just let me know how the club will pay for new signings or bigger contracts to keep current signings without increasing the club income? Forest and Everton got points deductions largely as a result of the fact they were spending 80% and 105% of their budgets on salaries.

You can try not paying players top wages, I don’t imagine you’ll be seeing many players go there. You can try not paying transfer fees that are extortionate. Then your club might not need to increase prices, but you will also definitely be less competitive.

Honestly, it’s not some kind of debating position it’s just maths. If you can’t afford good players you either decrease expenditure or increase income.

Lee

Elite English female coach debate…

In response to Oliver Dziggel. If you’re pointing out that there are not many elite English female coaches, I agree with you. Apparently one of the main barriers – considering the wage disparity – is simple cost. UEFA pro license currently sets you back £13,700!

That said, can I try a couple more names? For example, Laura Harvey –  two titles with Arsenal, 70pc win rate, more than two decades of experience.  Currently head coach of Seattle Reign.

Or Kelly Cousins, won WSL2 with reading, near a decade experience.  Currently sporting director in Utah.

Or Casey Stoney, managed Man Utd into the WSL and then to a fourth place finish, 15 years experience. Currently head coach at San Diego.

It seems a move to the US is the thing to do still, and good luck to them.

Although, Carla Ward might be available after recently doing good work at Aston Villa. May be be a little inexperienced.

Of course that’s only English coaches. There’s Rita Guarino – four Serie A titles, 16 years experience, currently at Inter.

Or Sonia Bompaster – won the CL and numerous other titles, currently at Chelsea.

I’ll stop now. How long till the prem starts again?

Hartley MCFC Somerset (Finland seem pretty leaky – shipped 14 in five games this year. Could for a goal fest?)