London: Ahead of England’s interim head coach Lee Carsley’s final window as custodian of the national team before the arrival of Thomas Tuchel, the Englishman has revealed he has not spoken to the new manager of the team.
“No. I think with the press conference [for Tuchel’s unveiling], it was quite clear in terms of the starting date. It was more of a text message to him which was: ‘Congratulations.’ And he said: ‘Good luck for the window and look forward to meeting up.’ He is fully respectful that I am in charge at the moment. That is the priority. I do not feel hard done by or shunned. If anything I look forward to hopefully create a situation where we can hand over a healthy squad of players to the new coach,” said Carley in the press conference.
The Football Association (FA) have announced UEFA Champions League winner Thomas Tuchel as their new England senior men’s head coach on Wednesday. He will be assisted by internationally renowned English coach Anthony Barry.
“The decision to recruit Tuchel and Barry was approved by the FA Board early last week, with Tuchel signing his contract on October 8,” The FA said in a statement.
Tuchel will begin his tenure in January 2025 ahead of the qualification process for the following year’s FIFA World Cup finals, due to be staged in Canada, Mexico and the USA.
Carsley went on to reveal Tuchel has not had any inputs in regards to the squad picked for the upcoming international break, “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.”
Lee Carsley has picked a 26-man group for the double-header, which kicks-off with a crucial trip to Athens on Thursday 14 November before Ireland are the visitors to Wembley on November 17.
Carsley has selected two new faces for November’s squad, with defenders Taylor Harwood-Bellis of Southampton and Newcastle United’s Lewis Hall both named in a senior group for the first time.
Harwood-Belli’s comes into the squad having been a regular for England development teams in recent years. He captained the MU21s to the EURO title in 2023, before helping lead them to qualification and an opportunity to defend their title at next summer’s U21 EURO Finals.
And Hall joins the seniors having also helped the MU21s this term, featuring in their victories over Ukraine and Azerbaijan in October.
The Three Lions squad will meet at St. George’s Park on Monday, where they will begin their preparations for the two games and what will be the final camp in charge for Carsley.
Tuchel’s appointment comes along with a lot of scrutiny by the English media and supporters as he will become only third foreign head coach, after late Sven-Goran Eriksson from Sweden and Italy’s Fabio Capello, to assume the position.
— IANS
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