Lee Carsley believes England can get all of Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden into the same team if they are “creative”. While the interim manager suggested that the nature of next week’s international matches means it would be unlikely he plays the trio together for long, he has been trying to come up with an idea for it.
Carsley revealed that a recent Uefa conference between head coaches saw his peers enthuse about England’s immense strength in depth, but that the discussions also made him realise the country was still “chasing”, not leading. The manager even stated that his peers were talking to him as if England’s abundance of options can be an issue, but he insisted it’s “a nice problem to have”. The potential use of Bellingham, Palmer and Foden only illustrates that, ahead of Nations League fixtures at home to Greece then away to Finland.
“You’d try and find a way of getting them into the team,” Carsley said. “We’ve got to be creative… if they are all playing well and they all earn that place in the team. I think that’s important as well.
“With the period of the season we are in, I can probably justify why we wouldn’t start all three of them at the same time in terms of the amount of games that they’re playing, what they are going back to and what they have come from. And some of the stages they are at in terms of potentially just coming back from injury or not had that many minutes. We just need to find the balance.
“I think what’s important is that we get them all on the pitch at some point and we try to find the balance because going to that Uefa conference a couple of weeks ago, a lot of the head coaches spoke about how many good players we’ve got, but they almost referred to it as a problem.
“Whereas I am thinking it’s a nice problem to have! The challenge is, always, if you can pick a team to beat the opposition and getting the balance with that … it might mean that now and then one of them misses out or in terms of a tournament, it’s very rare that you start the same team every single game so it’s finding that balance.”
The question has only been sharpened this season, because Palmer’s form has meant he has suddenly leapt ahead of both Foden and Bellingham.
“In terms of Cole, you just want him on the ball. I often think about effective players in effective areas. Any area that Cole’s in and he’s on the ball, he’s effective because he has a lot of attributes.
“He stands out so much because we haven’t always produced those types of players in the past who can receive the ball under pressure, play forward, be creative off both sides and play in numerous positions.
“What we are doing now in the academy system and the amount of contact time with players, we are producing players that are multi-positional and can do different things. Cole is in that bracket where he can play deep, wide, as a nine, No 10. A lot of different positions.
“It’s an option to play him on the right but it will depend on who we have got available or who they’ve got available. From an under-21s point of view we’ve played him as a holding midfielder, No 10 and wide. The main thing with Cole is getting him on the pitch.”
Carsley, meanwhile, said he has a “good relationship” with Bellingham from their brief time together in the under-21s, and that he was “looking forward to working” with him.
He similarly felt no concern about managing a figure who has become a superstar at Real Madrid, amid some discussion during the summer over how he has grown as a person.
“I have always found with footballers and people that if you are honest with them, respectful, if you treat them how you want to be treated then that’s what you get back.
“Don’t see Jude or any other player being different to that. Any interactions I have had with him he has always been respectful, always polite.”