Bellingham, Foden or Palmer? Lee Carsley knows England need something else entirely

After of course speaking at length about Cole Palmer, Lee Carsley wanted to make one clarification. He has no plans to play the Chelsea star at left-back. The interim England manager last week referenced how Palmer is so talented that he can play there, only for that to cause some commotion.

“I definitely won’t be saying anything like that again!”

Carsley then went on an instructive explanation of one vision for the position – “not like a traditional Ashley Cole kind of thing” – which touched on a far bigger discussion over the forward.

England’s entire Nations League break has been framed by the 22-year-old, starting with Palmer winning the Football Association’s senior player of the year, and so far culminating in a debate over whether he is now the team’s most important player. That has run alongside constant questions over whether he can play in the same side as Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham. That’s without even mentioning Bukayo Saka, who has clearly risen to another level this season. Mikel Arteta spent a lot of Saturday talking about how he has matured into one of Arsenal’s leaders, especially after another decisive display in the 3-1 win over Southampton.

And yet it is that very line-up that maybe illustrates why Carsley might consider such discussions a little nebulous. It isn’t that long ago that Gareth Southgate faced questions over how he needed to make Foden the centre of England’s attack. Bellingham was quickly raised to that status at Euro 2024, with Carsley then naturally asked whether the Real Madrid star is a certain starter if fit. The new man evaded the question by saying everyone has to “earn their place” and he has to be guided by form, which does point to that bigger discussion here. Or, rather, a grander idea.

Foden is after all a player going through an understandable lull, where he hasn’t been as central to City. That can and will happen to any other talent. Even Palmer will eventually suffer a lull, even if that seems almost impossible right now. His quartet of finishes against Brighton last week made it 44 goals or assists in the Premier League since the start of 2023-24, the most in the competition, but Carsley touched on how there is still more to come.

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“He’s a player that whatever you throw at Cole he deals with. But that shouldn’t give us the right to keep putting pressure on him and hyping him up. Ultimately, he’s still a young player, he’s still got a lot of improving to do, even though he’s at an incredible limit at the moment, I still think he can get better. With all of the young players we have to make sure we look after them, make sure we’re mindful of what they are going through. Not only on the pitch but the challenges they have off the pitch as well. A lot of these situations they’re in are life changing, not only for themselves but for their families. Supporting them is a big thing.”

This is also the great advantage of being England manager right now, which even opposition coaches told Carsley was a “nice problem” at a recent Uefa conference. He has so many stars that he doesn’t need to centre his team on any single one.

The idea shouldn’t be to centre the team on Palmer but to create an idea of England where they can be as good a unit no matter which of their stars plays. It is actually one reason why Carsley might just be the perfect man for this job, even if the sexier debate this week is around whether Palmer should be the central figure.

There is an argument that England are now only missing that final tactical detail, that formation that properly amplifies the ability of the players so they go to the next level. The talent is there, after all. Southgate already changed the mindset, while giving them a new platform. His tournaments have meanwhile given this group crucial experience of going close.

Carsley can now perhaps give them that tactical vision. He clearly thinks about it an awful lot, which he touched upon when asked about the Foden-Bellingham-Palmer triumvirate. He clearly has the imagination.

“I’ve definitely got a plan in place. The beauty of this job is you get a lot of time to think. In between driving from game to game you are constantly thinking about combinations, relationships. Also those three players are brilliant players but we have a squad of really, really exciting talented players that you have to have that feeling that you’ve earned your place rather than try and shoe-horn players into positions.”

It was similar with that talk of left-back.

“Depending on who was available, if we were to play an attacking player at left-back, we’d build totally differently. It would look like a winger, not like a traditional Ashley Cole kind of thing in a back four. We’d have to build differently.”

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With the way he talks, and – more importantly – how he sets up a team, there is an argument that Carsley is actually the English coach who is closest to Pep Guardiola in terms of tactical thinking. The second goal in the 2-0 win over Ireland was a showcase of that. Even John Stones remarked on the similarities.

“In ways, yes, definitely,” the centre-half said. “Everyone has got their own unique style and I think there are similarities throughout every manager in what they want. There are a lot of similarities between Lee and Pep in how they see the game and how they want us to play and I think we saw that last month when we played the two games and obviously got positive results from them. It’s been great for me with the likenesses of how we play. They do a lot of research on us as players and as teams and see how we play at our clubs and try to bring that in and make it as easy as possible for us as players to gel together and move forward in one direction.”

This is what England have to be about, as frustrating as it might be for anyone so excited about Palmer’s form. It can’t be about any one player. Like with a star Guardiola side, it has to be about one vision.

The clamour might be for England to be centred on Palmer. The great excitement for Carsley is actually that they don’t need to be.