Finland at Wembley should be less thorny diplomatic terrain for Lee Carsley to navigate in his second match as England interim manager, and it truth it ought to be a comfortable night on the pitch too.
England were impressive for the first 45 minutes against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday, the nation for whom Carsley won 40 senior caps. Carsley wants to be seen as a hands-on coach rather than ambassadorial manager, and there were signs of greater smoothness and fluency to England’s play.
Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier were replaced in the full-back positions by Trent Alexander-Arnold and Levi Colwill, who helped to make England’s build-up play less stodgy. Alexander-Arnold’s quality in possession does not restating, and the selection of Colwill also balanced England nicely. When Alexander-Arnold strayed into more central positions, Colwill tucked around as a left centre-back with England flipping to a back three.
Another change from the summer was the presence of Anthony Gordon on the left, offering natural width on a flank that was left unoccupied at the Euros. Gordon also provided another speedy runner to move beyond Harry Kane. Jack Grealish operated inside in a No 10 position.
What will be interesting is whether Carsley sticks with this dynamic once Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham are available again, which could mean one of England’s outstanding individual talents starting on the bench. That could well prove his first contentious selection call.
However, with Foden and Bellingham absent, Carsley has more scope to freshen things up. According to Matt Law and Mike McGrath, Carsley is set to give Angel Gomes his first England start tonight with Ezri Konsa and Rico Lewis also pushing for a start in defence.
Finland have won just one of five matches in 2024, including a heavy 4-1 against Wales in Cardiff. Teemu Pukki has long been their main source of goals but is now 34, but former Arsenal and Rangers man Glen Kamara is still going strong in midfield.
Confirmed starting line-ups on the way shortly.