"An impressive debut from Lee Carsley" | Rob Dorsett on England's win over Ireland

plenty to discuss from last night let's head to Dublin now and speak to senior reporter Rob Dorset uh kley said that three days with the squad Rob was enough time to get his style across what do you think did we see that last night yeah I think we did I think we did I thought it was a really impressive performance by England especially in the first half and an impressive debut for for Lee Carley as well in his first game in interim charge he got most of the big calls right didn't he Trent Alexander Arnold restored to right back gone that experiment with him as a midfielder that's the first time in almost four years that Trent Alexander Arnold has started at right back for England so that tells you something and his array of passing was outstanding um Jack greish restored to the Midfield as number 10 now bear in mind he doesn't play number 10 very often for Manchester City he did all the time with Aston Villa and he was thrived in that role and so whil it was a big call to bring him back into the squad in the first place after missing out on the Euros to have him play last night score his third international goal proved that Cosley got that one right as well um but down this Left Flank I thought was really really interesting tactically we know that Lee Carley is a really really good coach and good manager he'd done his homework because with Ireland playing three center backs there was an awful lot of space in behind their wing backs and Anthony Gordon exploited that to a great extent on the Left Flank in particular in the first half and England were cutting through Ireland almost at will um all right let's put it into perspective Ireland were poor and they were poorest last night um as they adapt a new life under a new manager themselves I think they struggled they were better in the second half and England dipped a little bit in the second half but overall I thought it was really really impressive from Lee Carley's uh perspective and we can show you some of the stats that kind of back that up really if you look at the comparisons with the group games that England had under GIS Southgate you can see that the numbers make good reading f carsley look uh more shots um more shots on target as well fewer long passes but I think they built through the phases a little bit under Lee carsley last night um the jewels one much bigger at the bottom there um the big chances created look absolutely smashed what happened in the group stages uh for England at the euros and I'll pick that stat out there where it says look third from the bottom in Euro 2024 a third of 1% if a third of one less than one fast break on average per game two fast breaks yesterday and I thought England were outstanding in that regard yesterday they really did every time they got the ball they got forward through the phases really really quickly so Lee carsley has called himself maybe more of a coach than a manager and I think that was there for all to see in that performance last night look England dipped in the second half and I'd like to have seen Lee Carley maybe ring the changes and bring some substitutes on a little bit earlier but let's give him chance and give him a bit of time the team that he selected worked the result worked England won they won well they won comfortably they kept a clean sheet and Lee Carley got off to a pretty flying start didn't he he did and you could have written this script could you of with both greish and rice scoring against the country that they used to represent at a Youth Level we heard the booze do you think that affected them not at all uh in fact it seemed to Spur them both on for me it was two of the best performances that we've seen from Jack greish and Declan rice in an England shirt and that's a big statement for Dean rice he won his 59th cap for England yesterday he's still only 25 so that's an extraordinary record you can't help but feel if he keeps fit Declan rice will go on to win more than 100 caps for England he was absolutely outstanding last night at the Arsenal man and scored a goal as well set up Jack greish for the second so he was man of the match by an absolute mile for me and he was very respectful he'd been booed he'd been talked a lot in the media beforehand because of course he and Jack Gish played junior football for Ireland in Declan Rice's case played three senior caps for for the Republic of Ireland as well so there was an extra feeling of animosity towards him I think but those boo quickly died out and became more and more feeble because how can you boo somebody that was playing that well he was absolutely outstanding and he was very respectful to Republic of Ireland as well he didn't celebrate scoring the goal and when Harry Kane came off the pitch late on in the game he tried to hand the captain's armband to Declan rice and Declan rice refused it now that wasn't just out of respect ECT for Ireland he he told me after the game that he thought that Jon Stones who was coming on was more senior and probably ought to get the arm band instead but I think it shows how Declan rice has matured into a very very important player for this England side a leader he's one of the first names on the team sheet and for Lee Carley going forward the fact that he's got the support of players like Declan rice and Harry Kane is absolutely key as he tries to get the England manager job long term yeah I think that says a lot about Dean rice as a as a man doesn't it but let's talk about the manager now and and Ley and I remember in the runup to this rob you were telling us about how as an England manager yes you have to know your football yes you have to know your tactics but you also have to know about the current political issues so how did Cosley get on speaking to the media and getting his point across you're absolutely right Jess and I think that's the key to this I think the fa have already decided that Lee carsley is a good enough coach and can work with the players well enough to give him the job but I think what they're trying to see in this audition period in these Autumn Internationals if you like is how does he cope with the media how does he cope with the difficult questions how does he cope with those tricky and sensitive political situations well it doesn't get a lot more sensitive than a man who's played 40 times for rep for the Republic Republic of Ireland coming here to Dublin for his first game and leading out an England team you mentioned that he sat in the wrong Dugout at the start but he sneaked out quietly while the the um Ireland fans were were singing a pretty rockers champ before the game uh he didn't want to make a scene so that was pretty humble and and pretty lowkey of him you have to say um but I think he handled it very very well remember that feror that happened this time yesterday where some of the newspapers were saying because he didn't sing the English national anthem he couldn't be the England manager ridiculous absolutely ridiculous that that sentiment you have to say he is an Irishman who played 40 times for Ireland so why would he sing the English national anthem and that issue of jel Heritage is much more complex than than just a simple matter of whether you sing the national anthem or not so he dealt with questions on that very very well he rose above it when the media were throwing questions to him about that he was very respectful to Republic of Ireland at his time here and and the times he' played for the country so I think the fa would have been very very impressed with how he handled all of that that'd be more difficult games to come on the pitch for sure but I think off the pitch Lee Carley handles handled himself very very well um and and he's put himself in good stead to get this job long term let's see how he gets on his in his second game in charge because that comes pretty quickly that's Tuesday night at Wembley against Finland they lost 3-0 against Greece yesterday so they may be a little bit of cannon fodder potentially for England if they're absolutely on their game we'll see carsley certainly won't be thinking about it like that but certainly a good start for him can he follow it up on Tuesday night at Wembley [Music]