England win overshadowed by head coach uncertainty

After a step in the right direction on the pitch, Lee Carsley somehow put his foot back in it.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

That description is perhaps a little harsh for an interim manager guiding a team through a decent spell so far, but it is getting increasingly confounding as to why he keeps going back and forth as regards the biggest question of all: whether he wants the job.

In Helsinki, on what should have been a comfortable night after a 3-1 win over Finland, Carsley made it more awkward by first saying that the England job “deserves a world-class coach who has won trophies”.

That evidently isn’t yet him, which was why this line was initially perceived to be Carsley indicating the full-time appointment indeed won’t be him.

When asked whether he was ruling himself out, though, he said “definitely” not.

If it is getting tedious to hear about this, the discussion is only happening because his comments keep inviting more questions. It is like Carsley is constantly opening new avenues of discussion, in the same way Trent Alexander-Arnold keeps opening up defences. Given how important that discussion is to the real business of the 2026 World Cup, too, it is often more interesting than Nations League B2.

The wonder is why Carsley doesn’t stick to a clear line and get on with it, since that is obviously what he wants. He doesn’t need to make these new statements that only raise eyebrows.

It’s all the more surprising because, in a departure from a statesman like Gareth Southgate, Carsley is a coach who wants to coach. And, if he doesn’t have a clear line on the future, he evidently has a clear idea for this team.

What he is trying to do in this Nations League campaign is work out the little nuances that eventually complete that idea. That is the main reason England were not as convincing in this international break than the last, although it has probably served to add a bit more doubt as to whether he will eventually get the job. His public comments have then further diluted that.