Analysis of England 2-0 Finland | Lee Carsley steers Three Lions to Nations League win

the two he scored with Sublime strikes but they were probably two of his tougher chances it was really really impressive for me though it leads to a bit bit of a question about if not Kane then who Harry Kane was the only striker in this squad uh for Lee carsley after Ole Watkins withdrew from it and so after Kane was taken off at 80 minutes what a brave decision that was by Lee carsley by the way taking the England Captain off on his 100th cap when he's on two goals with 10 minutes of the game to go there's a statement for you um it was Jared Bowen who came on in his place and played almost as a false number nine so with Ivan Tony now in Saudi Arabia Ole Watkins injured where do England go if they don't have Harry Kane available Dominic sanki maybe will be pushing for a place if he can have a good season with Tottenham but that's a side issue that's something we'll discuss over the the coming England games last night it was all about Harry Kane he was the star of the show he did what he did always always done for England 68 goals now for England that's 15 more than anybody else has ever managed in an England shirt and he was really really impressive uh and and the Wembley crowd left with a with a big smile on their face I think you have to say along with the Kane family yeah I mean like you say it was Brave to take off Harry Kane on two goals and uh he was a brilliant performance though from Kane Rob wasn't it but what did we learn do you think about how England might look under Cary some positive signs do you think yeah very positive signs I like the way he plays football I think the the crowd inside went like the way he played football there were at times paper airlanes which were the bane of G southgate's life but it was a very different style you have to say uh he loves this possession based game he likes getting the ball forward he likes players playing out of position in a fluid formation on one occasion it was extraordinary we saw Rico Lewis who was playing at left back um and Anthony Gordon who was playing at left wing both doing a little one two on the right wing it was incredibly fluid and if you look at the the stats there you can see just how many touches and passes England had they attempted 800 passes that by the way is more than any other nation in these nations League games in any match in this Autumn break so that gives you an idea of how Lee Cary wants to play and it was really really impressive we often saw Trent Alexander Arnold and and Roo Lewis the two fullbacks operating as number 10 in that sort of position so there was a fluidity to it an exciting aspect to it which I think continued what we saw with England in Dublin against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday and we asked Lee Carley in the news conference about that after the game and how he wants to play and how he thought the two games had gone and I think it was a pretty satisfied England interim manager it was important that we had the performances um you know you want to you want to um you want to stand at the side of the pitch enjoying watching the team play um you know attacking um being exciting um and I thought I thought we had that over the um the two games you know to score to score four goals um in two games is good I still think we could have could have done better I think we've come up against um two really resilient teams two excellent goalkeepers um but yeah I think we're moving in the right direction you have to point out that England no disrespect to them have played two of the Lesser Nations I think in this Nations League competition they are in Group B having been relegated but some really positive signs for Lee carsley and this England squad going forward two players had pick out very quickly Jack greish who started both matches at number 10 where he rarely gets the chance to play for Manchester city was brilliant in Dublin on Saturday was good last night but I think realistically he's not going to have that opportunity to play in that position for club or country I think there's a certain Kevin De bruyer at Manchester City and then you've got the returning Jude Bellingham Phil foden and Cole Palmer who weren't in this England squad but certainly The Rebirth of Jack greish in an England shirt you have to say over the two matches and then there was Angel Gomez as well who was really really impressive um by the end of last night he' completed 116 out of 124 passes the most attempted and completed of any England player the fact that Lee Cosley has prepared to play a player like him a very technical player the sort of player we haven't seen before who is creative but behind the other Midfield players I think is really quite exciting and he was outstanding under carsley you think he's got a big and bright England future [Music]