Away from the media spotlight and once the fans had all left the stadium, Lee Carsley popped pitchside at Wembley after the emphatic 5-0 win over Republic of Ireland to have some quiet photos taken with his family as the ground staff mowed the grass at the home of football.
Carsley wanted to record his special moment as the man at the very top of the English game. That speaks volumes about the sort of man he is – proud, private and for whom family comes first.
It is right and fitting that Carsley went out with a bang as England’s interim manager – that is the least he deserved after being given a torrid ride by the media, some of whom tried to hound him out before his first game in charge because he said he wouldn’t sing the national anthem.
He was given an impossible task by his employers at times too, having to front up in news conferences where he was asked about his own ambitions even though he knew that Thomas Tuchel had been offered the manager’s job.
Carsley is a lovely guy. A loyal employee. A humble bloke. And he is an excellent coach. But he wasn’t right for the top job going forward at this stage because his FA bosses had decided they wanted someone with a track record of claiming big titles at senior level. A proven winner. Someone who could take this England men’s side to the promised land, where a major international trophy is waiting.
Carsley said during his tenure that his mission was to firstly make sure England were promoted back to the top tier of Nations League football, and secondly to widen the talent pool available for Tuchel to pick from by blooding more youngsters on the international stage.
He managed to achieve both of those objectives, the second emphatically. Tino Livramento earned his senior debut against Ireland, then Taylor Harwood-Bellis followed suit from the bench, becoming the 31st and 32nd players used by Carsley during the six autumnal Nations League matches. No other European nation has used so many players.
However, it is a little naive to think that Tuchel will be in any way influenced by the players Carsley has given game time to. Tuchel is very much his own man, with specific ideas and ways of playing.
Some think he is wedded to the idea of three centre-backs, as he used for the vast majority of his time at Chelsea, but he is actually more pragmatic and more creative than that, in a tactical sense. At Borussia Dortmund and at Bayern Munich he often used a back four, with a variety of formations in front of that defence.
You suspect many of the players Tuchel will favour are among the 10 players who withdrew from this squad because of injury (plus Kobbie Mainoo, John Stones and Luke Shaw, who were already ruled out before the squad was announced).
Tuchel’s mission from the FA is a very simple one: win the World Cup in 2026. His contract runs only to the end of that tournament.
So – in direct contradiction to Carsley, who now returns to lead England U21s – Tuchel has no real motivation or mission to develop England’s young players. Why would he, when he may well be walking away from England in 18 months’ time?
Tuchel will be focused on players that are ready to go, that are already world-class or can reach that status very quickly. One of the quirks of the fact that England have achieved automatic promotion to the elite level of the Nations League is that Tuchel might not actually take charge of a competitive international until September – nine months into his 18-month contract.
That is because, if England are placed into a group with four teams in December’s World Cup draw, then they will now play friendly matches during the March internationals, and their qualification campaign won’t start until next autumn.
That means Tuchel will have less than nine months of competitive matches to prepare England for a tilt at the World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico. He will have very little time to experiment with young players and new caps, and trying new roles for anyone he thinks might be adaptable.
And remember that this is uncharted territory for Tuchel, who is a first-time international coach. He is used to working daily with players at elite European clubs; he is not used to the staccato nature of international management.
In this latest international break, England’s squad joined up at St George’s Park on Monday and six days later, they were on their way home again. Two matches in six days, three full training sessions in total over the international break. Impossibly little time for Tuchel to get to know new players and get them to buy into his philosophy. Even less time to give youth a chance.
It may seem very harsh to say but it is unrealistic to think the likes of Morgan Gibbs-White, Angel Gomes or even Jack Grealish will be considered as a number 10 for England if Tuchel has Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden back at his disposal.
Will Harwood-Bellis or Jarrad Branthwaite get a sniff in the senior team if Marc Guehi, Stones, Harry Maguire, Levi Colwill and Ezri Konsa are all fit and available? Likewise Noni Madueke if Bukayo Saka is back? You get my point.
Harry Kane’s powerful riposte aimed at those England players he felt weren’t committed enough to the England cause is significant too. Kane will, for sure, be Tuchel’s lieutenant on the pitch and his enforcer in the dressing room. The two became very close and much aligned in their philosophy during their year together in Munich.
It was an interesting insight Kane gave when he told the media that Tuchel would be friendly and welcoming to the squad as a whole, but also that he “won’t shy away from confrontation.”
Tuchel is not a man who is cowed by big names and big reputations. He has dealt with Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, Thiago Silva, Marco Verratti, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Leroy Sane and Jamal Musiala, and many more superstars besides.
He won’t be deterred from dropping big-name players from his England squad or starting XI if he doesn’t think they fit in, and he won’t be guilty of trying to crowbar England’s best players into his side because he fears a public outcry if he were to leave them out.
All of that means the squad that Carsley has built over the last three months probably looks very different from the one Tuchel plans to construct once he takes over on January 1.
Those players that Kane suggested “took advantage” of a niggle during a busy time in the season and cried off from the England fold will be back and desperate to impress the new manager come the spring. Whilst Carsley was metaphorically scraping the barrel following 10 injury withdrawals, Kane suspects – as we all do – that there will be many fewer injury withdrawals in March when Tuchel is in charge.
It is significant that he hasn’t called Carsley or Kane at any stage since he signed his FA contract last month to pick their brains or offer an opinion. Tuchel is single-minded, clear-minded and self-confident.
Carsley said after the victory over Ireland that he will prepare a dossier for Tuchel to consume and sit down with his successor to offer any insight into the playing squad that the new man may value. Does Tuchel want or need that handover? We have no way of telling. But we do know he will prepare his own thoughts and plans.
The brave new world that is England in 2025 will be designed in Germany, and the Tuchel era and its prominent personnel may look very different to the cast of characters we have been impressed by during Carsley’s time in charge.
