England vs Finland: view from the stands
England played Finland on Tuesday this week. The game provided a good opportunity to take a first look at Lee Carsley’s new look England side, from the stands at Wembley. On a night when Harry Kane marked his 100th appearance by scoring a second half double, Carsley’s influence was clear to see. England were more aggressive going forward, but displayed defensive fragilities on the counterattack. Whilst it may be too soon to give any real verdicts, there were some positive signs.
Pictured above: my view from the stands
Attacking promise
I felt at times during the Euros, that England didn’t fully utilise their wingers. Foden had looked out of place on the left and Saka wasn’t provided with the overlaps that we often see with Ben White at Arsenal. I felt that some of the England players looked uncomfortable in their roles at the Euros and struggled to play as a team, with attacks breaking down as a result of players being on different wavelengths. Declan Rice, who played a more attacking role at Arsenal last season looked exposed in a more defensive role and suffocated of the potential to make the bursts forward that he often does for Arsenal. Alexander-Arnold struggled to adapt to a midfield role and Kane occupied a deeper role, which left us without a target at times. Underpinning all of this, was a system where England sat deeper and played more on the back foot than many of the players are used to at their respective clubs. This defensive style is something which seemed even more prominent after we scored (for example, sitting back against Denmark and Serbia when we went 1-0 up in those games).
However, Tuesday’s performance was a different story. Gordon looked lively in the early stages and the addition of Grealish to the midfield provided some tidy interchanges and overlaps which caused Finland problems early on.
Whilst we perhaps didn’t see the same overlaps with Saka, Finland gave Saka space to run at their defence and he looked dangerous (albeit a bit tired as the game progressed). I thought Finland struggled with Saka’s ability to cut in on his left or take it to the by-line on his right and England should have taken advantage of this when Kane’s 23rd minute header was ruled out for offside from Saka’s in-swinging cross.
England continued to press forward throughout the first and second half and their pressure was rewarded with Kane scoring two clinical goals after half time (in the 57th and 76th minute). It was refreshing to see England not sitting back at 1-0 or 2-0, with Madueke’s and Eze’s introductions from the bench providing a positive impetus in the latter stages.
If I was being critical, I would still say that England lacked a little bit of cutting edge in the final third. It took until the second half for Kane to open the scoring and the increased openings for England seemed to stem from the Finnish team tiring as much as anything. However, this was an improvement on some of England’s recent attacking performances against lower ranked sides. In particular, England’s display going forward seemed more connected and was a marked improvement on the 1-0 defeat at home to Iceland in the build up to the Euros, when England struggled to break down Iceland’s low block.
Defensive issues
There were definitely times on Tuesday when England looked vulnerable defensively, especially on the counterattack. A few moments involving Aberdeen’s Topi Keskinen stood out for me.
On 21 minutes, Keskinen ran at the England defence before shooting wide just after Kane’s shot had been saved at the other end. 4 minutes later, Keskinen ran through again before smashing a shot over the bar when he should have passed to Pukki, who was in space to slot home.
England’s problems seemed to stem from us losing the ball sloppily in midfield and having a lack of organisation and cover when Finland were attacking. Partly, I think, this was a result of us pushing higher up when attacking and partly I think this was a result of us still not having a solid defensive base in our midfield.
Verdict
Overall, while Carsley has made a positive start, I don’t think we should be overly excited. This was an understrength England team playing against 63rd ranked Finland in the Nations League. The real tests are still to come for Carsley. I think he will need to demonstrate (amongst other things):
a) A solution to the defensive midfield/general defensive issue, as we looked far too vulnerable when Finland were able to counter;
b) How he plans to solve the selection problem once the likes of Palmer, Foden and Bellingham are all available. This is something which England struggled with at the Euros, for example, with Foden and Bellingham not gelling as many had hoped. It is also an issue that has hampered start-studded England sides historically (Lampard and Gerrard being the prime example);
c) Whether his attacking style of play performs against tougher opposition who are not so wasteful with the opportunities they get and who do not tire in the same way as Finland did on Tuesday; and
d) If his team can perform in a more competitive context. For all the criticism Southgate received towards the end of his England tenure, his team/style achieved consistent results at international tournaments. People may point to the quality of opposition played at these tournaments, but you have to play the teams in front of you and England have reached the final at the last two Euros, and a semi-final and a quarter final at the last two World Cups. Very talented England teams in recent years have not come close to this success and let’s not forget that Southgate took over the job just after the team’s humilating exit from Euro 2016.
In the long run, I am not yet convinced that Carsley is the right man to take us to the next level and win an international tournament (which is not a criticism given the limited time he’s had). Whilst I think Carsley did a fantastic job with the England U21s, my preference for now would still be to see a bigger name come in (the likes of Howe or even Klopp/Guardiola in the unlikely scenario that the opportunity arises).
However, I think England are taking a step in the right direction. We had a fluency which has been missing in recent times and the players seemed more confident in their positions. If we continue on this trajectory, and Carsley is able to prove himself with respect to the points above, he could definitely turn out to be the right man for England long-term.
Lastly, a word on Kane
Kane joined a select list of England players by reaching 100 caps on Tuesday night. It seems like yesterday that he first stepped on to the field for England and headed in a goal within 80 seconds of his first international cap against Lithuania. Since then, he has become a talisman for his country, with his double against Finland bringing up 68 international goals – the most by any England player and 15 more than second-placed Wayne Rooney, who scored 53 goals in 120 England appearances.
Despite the near trophy misses, I have no doubt that Kane will go down as an England great. However, with Bayern Munich getting back to winning ways in the Bundesliga, I’m optimistic that the Kane trophy curse may finally lift, just in time for the 2026 World Cup.