Lee Carsley insists the likes of Harry Maguire and Eberechi Eze have done nothing wrong despite being left out of the England squad for the Nations League doubleheader against Greece and Finland.
Interim boss Carsley named his second squad this afternoon and handed recalls to Kyle Walker, Jude Bellingham and, after a seven-year absence, Dominic Solanke.
Manchester United centre-half Maguire, who missed the weekend game against Tottenham through injury, and Crystal Palace midfielder Eze were omitted, along with Tino Livramento and Jarrod Bowen.
Your #ThreeLions are locked in. 🔒 pic.twitter.com/90iH1KMwwk
— England (@England) October 3, 2024
Explaining the moves, Carsley said: “It’s more of a chance for me to look at other players. It’s nothing they have done, definitely nothing to do with form.
“It’s just a case of using this period of the next two camps to experiment a little bit and look at other players. The players that have been left out have all got a case to be in the squad but I thought it was important that, we’ve seen the benefit of the last squad being fresh and it feeling fresh, having a lot of energy in it – not that those players didn’t bring that – but I thought it was important it wasn’t just a copy and paste.
“I want them to feel like they’ve earned their place in the squad. I’ve spoken to all the players that aren’t involved and have had good conversations with them. People want to know where they stand long term and I’ve made it clear that this is a short-term decision by myself.”
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No Maddison and no Rogers
There was no place for Spurs’ James Maddison or Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, both of whom are in fine form.
Carsley added: “There’s a lot of players that were close to being in this squad. The talent that we’ve got available for us, it would have been quite easy to name a 40-man squad and justify having them all in. The challenge is making sure that we pick a competitive squad that can win the two games.”
In a #ThreeLions squad for the first time in almost seven years.
Welcome back, @DomSolanke! 👊 pic.twitter.com/IdqMVsxZsq
— England (@England) October 3, 2024
Carsley delighted to have Solanke on board
Solanke has not played for his country since earning his solitary cap in 2017.
After a slow start for Spurs following his £65million summer switch from Bournemouth, the 27-year-old has scored three goals in his last three games.
“Dom’s a player I’m fully aware of having worked with him in the past,” said Carsley. “He was really close to being in the last squad but got injured just before selection.
“He did so well at Bournemouth and now he’s taken that form into Spurs. He’s got a lot of really good attributes that I really like, as well as being a really nice person. He’s extremely talented and it’s a good that we’ve got him.”
