Lee Carsley has revealed he is likely to ditch England's experimental formation for tomorrow's match in Helsinki as the interim manager stressed the need to "do something different" following the disastrous defeat to Greece at Wembley.
While an attacking line-up that featured all of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon failed to click in the absence of captain Harry Kane, Carsley defended his selection against accusations he was "reckless".
Carsley won both of his first two games in charge last month, away to Ireland and at home to Finland, when Bellingham, Foden and Palmer were unavailable due to injury or illness. Despite insisting he would not "shoehorn" players into his team earlier this week, Carsley then played all three attacking midfielders without a recognised No 9 - leading to a confused performance as Greece claimed a late but deserved 2-1 win.
Kane was set to be assessed by England yesterday after taking part in the morning's training session and Carsley admitted the absence of the striker altered his plans. While Carsley maintained he picked the "best team" rather than the "best players" by including Bellingham, Foden and Palmer, the interim manager vowed to continue to select attacking line-ups during his time in charge and wouldn't rule out selecting the same team at some point in the future.
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Denne historien er fra October 12, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
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