Lee Carsley dismissed suggestions he effectively ruled himself out of the permanent England post by saying he is still on the path to becoming the world-class coach the job needs.
Gareth Southgate’s temporary successor bounced back from Thursday’s embarrassing 2-1 home defeat to Greece with a 3-1 win away to Finland in the Nations League on Sunday.
England were not wholly convincing in Helsinki, where interim boss Carsley would produce some more confusing answers about his interest in taking on the role permanently.
On Thursday the 50-year-old said he will “hopefully” be returning to his role with the Under-21s after November’s fixtures, then on Saturday he confirmed that he had not formally applied to replace Southgate.
If that was not enough, Carsley told ITV after beating Finland that “this job deserves a world-class coach that has won trophies and been there and done it – and I’m still on the path to doing that”.
Carsley was peppered with questions seeking clarification on his stance in the post-match press conference, including whether he felt it was too soon for him to become senior team boss.
“Definitely not,” Carsley said. “I tried to make it as clear as I could. My remit was for three camps.
“The point I was trying to make is it is one of the top jobs in the world.
“I’m not part of the process but it deserves a top coach. The players we have available, we’ve got a real chance of winning. That was the point I was making.”
Many took Carsley’s comments about still being on the path to becoming a world-class coach as him effectively ruling himself out of the England job.
Asked directly if that was the wrong assessment of those remarks, he said: “Yeah, definitely. Like I say, it’s important that I do the best that I can.
“It’s a privilege to do this job. I feel well trusted, it’s a great job and, you know, whoever gets it will be fully deserving.”
Carsley stressed that he trying to keep an “open mind” about things beyond his three-camp stint in charge having learned from previous roles.
“I’m definitely reluctant (to say whether I want the job) because in the past when I’ve done this caretaker/interim role I’ve gone so far down the ‘I don’t want the job’ (route) that I’ve actually not done the job,” he said.
“One of the things I spoke about when I was asked to take temporary charge is that it’s important I keep an open mind, because in that case I’m not being reckless with my decisions.
“I’m thinking thoroughly about how the team should play, the squad I should pick, which is a challenge because squad selection is very difficult.”
“The amount of players we have to leave out and what we’ve got available for us, and I’ve got another camp to do. It’s just a shame we can’t play Greece next week.”
Next month’s trip to Athens will be huge in the fight to return to the top tier of the Nations League having shown spirit to bounce back from Thursday’s loss.
Jack Grealish’s first-half strike put England ahead in Finland, where Trent Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick and a near-post finish by Declan Rice meant Arttu Hoskonen’s late header was only a consolation goal.
“Ultimately we’ve won the game, scored three good goals,” Carsley said. “It was a shame we couldn’t keep a clean sheet.
“I still don’t know the players that well yet in terms of the way the team reacts to a defeat and a setback, so I was thrilled with the way they responded.”
As for Finland, their wait for a first-ever win against England goes on after an evening that saw the hosts – without a point in the group – make life difficult for the Euro 2024 runners-up.
Head coach Markku Kanerva said: “Compared to the first game at Wembley, a much better game from us and we could create some good scoring chances – 13 attempts and we managed to score one goal.
“We hung on in the game until they score from the free-kick.
“Of course the English have the quality in certain situations, but I am pretty proud with the fighting spirit my players showed tonight if you think about the level of the players England have.”