It is no surprise to hear that the past two years feel like something of a blur for Lee Carsley. After leading England Under-21s to their first European title in a generation in 2023, the former Everton midfielder finds himself back in the semi-finals on Wednesday evening having spent almost six months in interim charge of the senior side.
“I was actually thinking about this the other day and how fast things have moved,” said Carsley as England prepare to face the Netherlands. “I definitely need a bit of reflection time, but it’s been so exciting. It put us backwards a little bit in terms of coming back to the 21s, in terms of the amount of monitoring that we would have been doing with the players, missing out on the three camps, which obviously I’ve done with the senior team.
“But I wouldn’t have changed it. It was such a privilege to do. But again, I feel like I’m in a really good position now as well to potentially take the team into another final, which they fully deserve to be part of.”
It is no secret that Carsley feels much more comfortable away from the media spotlight but he seemed at home in the national stadium in Slovakia’s capital discussing England’s chances of emulating Dave Sexton’s sides of 1982 and 1984 by winning successive titles at this level.
The team’s progress during this tournament has improved Carsley’s reputation given they arrived in Slovakia without their first-choice striker Liam Delap and the key midfielders Adam Wharton and Jobe Bellingham, not to mention seven members of Thomas Tuchel’s most recent senior squad who were eligible.
With only Harvey Elliott and the impressive Toulouse centre-back Charlie Cresswell remaining from the triumph in Georgia, this group does not have the same quality as the one from two years ago yet defeated the pre-tournament favourites, Spain, in the quarter-finals thanks to their best performance so far.
“The skill of a coach is making sure you get the best out of the players that you’ve got in front of you, not trying to make them something that they’re not,” Carsley said. “I think we’ve done quite well in that.
“We’ve tried to put them in positions where they can be really effective, whether that be with or without the ball.
“Ideally, and I’ve spoken to the players about it, you want to coach a team where you’re watching the team play and you’re enjoying watching them. And that Spain game and the second half of the Germany game, you’re on the side, enjoying watching the players play and expressing themselves.
“You want foreign journalists to speak about our players the way that we sometimes speak about their players in terms of their technical ability or the way that they can take the ball. I think we’re definitely changing that perception of English players.”
Bournemouth’s Alex Scott is one of those who have stepped up having won the European title at under-19 level three years ago and he is hoping to draw on the experience of scoring the winning goal in that semi-final against Italy.
“It’s one of my proudest moments of my career so far,” said the midfielder. “Any time I’ve been to England [is a proud moment] but to win a tournament in England was really special. I think that brings experience as well. A few of the lads have been there and done it. I know what it takes to win a major tournament. Hopefully we can take that experience we have and take it into tomorrow.”
The last time these sides met at this tournament, at the semi-final stage 18 years ago, it needed 32 penalties to find a winner, with Anton Ferdinand missing the decisive spot-kick as the Netherlands went on to win their second title in a row with a team that included Ryan Babel. They have not reached the final since and will be without three key players owing to suspension, including the captain Ruben van Bommel, son of the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich enforcer Mark, who was sent off against Portugal in the previous round.
But Carsley is wary of a squad, managed by Michael Reiziger, that includes several of the AZ team who won the Uefa Youth League in 2023, beating Real Madrid and Barcelona on the way. The temperature at kick-off is expected to exceed 35C.
Carsley insisted that fear of failure from the spot is a thing of the past thanks to the influence of Gareth Southgate during his spell as England’s senior manager. “It’s definitely something Gareth really pushed,” Carsley said. “We speak a lot about routine, almost like a golf swing where you would address the ball, take your time, think about your shot, the breathing; there’s a lot more that goes into it. But taking a penalty in a shootout is a totally different mentality. Because of the walk, you have that much thinking time to think about what you are going to do. If you change your mind, make sure you are clear and focused.”
