England can dominate for years but must think different, says Carsley

A slim, rectangular white tower rises more than 200ft above the Olympic Stadium where England will meet Finland in Helsinki on Sunday as interim manager Lee Carsley attempts to start the process of putting Thursday's sobering defeat by Greece behind him.

The views from the top of the tower, which was built so that marathon runners at the 1952 Games would know that the finish line was near when they saw it, sweep over church spires, shimmering lakes and autumn colours of the capital.

And when Carsley spoke about the last few days and the difficult aftermath of the 2-1 defeat by the Greeks, which had seen his credentials for the permanent job robustly questioned, he, too, was keen to survey the bigger picture.

Fresh questions about whether Carsley even wants the job full-time were raised on Saturday night and it is also clear from those questions that other interested managers are beginning to circle.

But Carsley spoke well here. This was a different manager to the man who sat in front of us at Wembley as he tried to process England's confused performance against Greece. This was a different tone.

He did not apologise for not playing a centre forward or for cramming Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon into the starting XI, with desperately disappointing results. Instead, he made a cogent argument for his team selection, an argument that centred on advancing England's chances of winning the 2026 World Cup and beginning a dynasty that could go at least some of the way to emulating Spain's great run of success between 2008 and 2012.

What was the point, he asked, of doing what England always have done in the last few years, of playing the same system, the same formation, the same players, when we made a recent habit of falling agonisingly short at major tournaments under Gareth Southgate?

His goal, Carsley said, was not to advance himself but to advance the team. There was a silence among his listeners after he said that. Carsley smiled. He interpreted it, not unreasonably, as hard-bitten cynicism. 'I know that you are probably used to people saying something that they don't mean,' he said, 'but I actually do mean it. It's about what is most important for the team. I don't want to sit back in a month's time with regrets that I was safe.'

Carsley returned to that dynamic when it was pointed out to him that his readiness to stray from the safety-first strategy that had frustrated so many England fans in the later years of Southgate's reign might boost the country's chances of winning the World Cup in the long-term but could damage his prospects of getting the permanent job in the short-term.

'The last thing that is important to me in this process is me,' Carsley said. 'The reason I believe I've done so well in coaching is because people know that it's not about me. It's about the players, it's about the environment, the culture.

'I don't see this as an audition. I don't see it as the biggest chance I have ever had. I see it as a privilege. I see it as an unbelievable responsibility. I have got three more games left, I want to try to make sure that the squad are in a really good position and that we have seen different players play in different positions and we are in a healthy position.

'If you think back to that Germany team and the Spain team that were really successful at the younger age groups that came through, I think potentially we could be coming into a period of that ilk. We've been so close in the past and with a bit more luck or belief on our side it could have been different. I'm wary that the last time we won something was 1966 so we have to have that ability to try something different.

'Your human instinct is to be safe, to go with things that you're comfortable with, but it was important that in this period I felt that I have to be out of my comfort zone. I have to try something because we've got to put ourselves in a position where we can win. To think that we can just do the same again and expect something different is naive. I totally accept all of the criticism. I'm glad it was directed towards me and not the players and we move on.'

Beyond the veneer of cynicism that greets his self-effacement, there was much that was inspiring about listening to Carsley here. He is not a demagogue manager like Jose Mourinho or Jurgen Klopp. There will never be a cult of personality around him. But there is a certain relief about that.

He will never be bigger than his players, either, and that, increasingly, appears to be a virtue. In international football, managers have to work between the lines. They don't shape their players, as club managers do. They stop them bending out of shape. It is what Lionel Scaloni does with Argentina and Luis de la Fuente with Spain.

Not that that stops him making difficult decisions. Early indications are that Carsley has acted decisively over team selection after Thursday's loss. The suggestion is that Phil Foden, who had another disappointing game, has been left out.

Carsley also drew on his relationship with his son, Connor, who has Down syndrome, to point out that he has a sense of perspective about the results of football matches. 'I definitely don't want anyone in the room to make too much of this,' Carsley said, 'but when — and I wouldn't describe it as a setback — Connor was born, it made a big difference to our lives in terms of having a child with Down syndrome who is disabled. It puts things into perspective.

'Like of course it was a setback the other night and I felt bad for a couple of days, of course I did.

'But it's a game of football, so I'm quite realistic about the understanding of, it's a game. It's a game, it's a big deal, I've tried my best, it didn't come off, I'm here to fight again.'