Carsley names final Nations League squad before departure

Jonathan Victoria • 07 Nov 2024 News

No Tuchel influence on selection.

Lee Carsley has named his squad for his final run as England manager ahead of their last two group stage fixtures of the current Nations League campaigns.

The first game will see England look to get revenge as they take on Greece in Athens on Thursday 14th November. Following that match, the Three Lions will return home to Wembley where they will face Ireland on Sunday 17th November.

Once again, Carsley has not shied away from some interesting picks, most notably calling up two Southampton players despite the Saints’ poorer start to the season.

He’s also kept in a Manchester City duo who have both not been included in City’s side for some time due to injuries.

For the most part, though, the picks are justified and players who were given the chance by Carsley have kept their spot, each hoping to make an impact and add to their England caps when Tuchel takes over in January.

Full squad selection

Here is the full squad for the upcoming fixtures:

Goalkeepers

• Jordan Pickford (Everton)
• Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace)
• Aaron Ramsdale (Southampton)

Defenders

• Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)
• Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Southampton)
• Rico Lewis (Manchester City)
• Levi Colwill (Chelsea)
• Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace)
• Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa)
• Kyle Walker (Manchester City)
• Lewis Hall (Newcastle United)

Midfielders

• Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)
• Phil Foden (Manchester City)
• Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
• Declan Rice (Arsenal)
• Curtis Jones (Liverpool)
• Connor Gallagher (Atletico Madrid)
• Angel Gomes (Lille)
• Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest)

Forwards

• Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
• Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
• Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa)
• Jack Grealish (Manchester City)
• Noni Madueke (Chelsea)
• Anthony Gordon (Newcastle)
• Dominic Solanke (Tottenham Hotspur)

Ramsdale is making his return to England in place of Nick Pope, looking to add to his five previous caps, although taking the number one spot from Everton keeper Pickford will be a tall order. 

Ramsdale has been one of the shining lights in Southampton’s fairly dull return to the Premier League so far. 

His teammate and now England senior team debutant Hardwood-Bellis has also been in decent form, playing a lot for the Saints and is a player Carsley is familiar with, the pair formerly working together in the Under-21 national side where Carsley had given the defender his first debut there too.

The other new inclusion is Newcastle’s Lewis Hall, who will come with some expectations of being the answer to England’s left-back problem. Hall has played in all 10 of the Magpies’ games this year and has played a solid role for his team, so this will be a good test to see if he could be what his national side needs.

Meanwhile, Liverpool’s Curtis Jones has returned to the squad, which could be seen as him simply replacing the injured Kobbie Mainoo, but his form as of late for Arne Slot’s Reds does warrant a return to the Three Lions side.

Unfortunately for West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen, he hasn’t done enough in recent weeks to warrant another call-up. This is his second disappointment this year after being dropped from the side in October.

Interestingly, though, Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish both have retained their places despite the former having only just returned from a near two-week injury spell and the latter missing the last five games for Man City.

Much needed results

The October outing was a fairly disappointing one, with the national side shockingly losing to Greece at Wembley, gifting their opponents the sole top spot of the table and making life harder for themselves in the aim to return to League A of the competition.

Two wins this time could see them steal the top spot back and finish there, provided they are able to overcome the three-goal deficit England currently has against Greece.

Should they be able to do so, the Three Lions will gain automatic qualification to League A, meaning they will be in a position to challenge for the Nations League title during the next campaign.

If they only manage second place though, they will still get the opportunity to be promoted, although they will have to play a two-game play-off against a team that finished third in their League A group.

While automatic promotion would be nice, it could be a better opportunity for incoming manager Thomas Tuchel to get some proper competitive experience at the helm if his first spell in charge in March 2025 was two must-win knockout round play-offs rather than two random, meaningless Friendlies.