Lee Carsley has disclosed that he has not yet spoken to Thomas Tuchel regarding the England squad he will be handing over to him in the new year. Carsley is currently preparing for his final camp as the interim head coach, which includes the Nations League matches against Greece in Athens next Thursday and the Republic of Ireland at Wembley three days later. His key selections included the first call-ups for left-back Lewis Hall and centre-half Taylor Harwood-Bellis. Carsley also included Jack Grealish in his 26-man squad, despite the Manchester City winger's recent groin injury that has kept him out of his club's last five matches. He reinstated goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, replacing Nick Pope, and made room for Curtis Jones, who was a late addition to the October squad. Injuries ruled out John Stones and Kobbie Mainoo, and there was no recall for Harry Maguire, who is also injured.
Tuchel, who was confirmed in mid-October as the permanent successor to Gareth Southgate, will begin his tenure on 1 January, having signed a contract that extends to the 2026 World Cup finals. Although he has not disagreed with the idea that his position will be win or bust, he seems content to wait before fully engaging with the challenge. Tuchel, who has been out of work since leaving Bayern Munich at the end of last season, has not attempted to influence Carsley's selection, and communication between the two has been limited to a few pleasantries. Carsley will return to his previous role as the England Under-21s head coach, where he hopes to build a relationship with Tuchel. Ashley Cole, Carsley's assistant coach, will also return to the under-21s.
When asked if he had spoken to Tuchel, Carsley replied, "No." He explained that their interaction was limited to a congratulatory text message after Tuchel's unveiling press conference, where Tuchel wished him luck for the upcoming matches and expressed his anticipation to meet. Tuchel has shown full respect for Carsley's current role, and Carsley does not feel undermined or ignored. Instead, he looks forward to handing over a healthy squad to the new coach.
Carsley emphasized that his squad selection was not influenced by Tuchel's impending arrival. "No. I am quite selfish in that respect," he said. "I picked the squad which I think can beat Greece and the Republic of Ireland." Grealish remains in the squad, but Carsley will send him back to City if he is not sufficiently recovered. He mentioned that Grealish has been training with City for the last couple of days, although it is uncertain if he will return for their match against Brighton on Saturday. It is uncommon for an England manager to call up a player who has missed several club games, and Pep Guardiola had previously suggested Grealish would be out until after the international break. Grealish recently posted a cryptic message on his Instagram story, hinting at his struggles.
Carsley hopes to assess Grealish's condition in camp next week and has other injury concerns. Declan Rice has a broken toe but intends to play through the pain at Chelsea on Sunday after missing Arsenal's Champions League defeat to Inter on Wednesday. Cole Palmer has missed training sessions for Chelsea since sustaining a knee injury from Manchester United's Lisandro Martínez last weekend. Carsley stressed that it is not the time to take risks with players' fitness. "If there's a risk that they're not fit, we won't take that chance," he said.
Carsley is well aware of the importance of securing two victories, especially after the recent loss to Greece at Wembley. If England fails to overtake Greece and win promotion back to the Nations League A division, they would face a playoff in March, delaying the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign. "The priority has got to be to win the group," Carsley said. "They are both strong opponents so the importance is our strongest XI in the two games."
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