Lee Carsley mocked over final England squad announcement before Thomas Tuchel takes charge

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Stuart Ballard

By Stuart Ballard


Published: 07/11/2024

- 14:26

Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Lewis Hall were given their first international call-ups by England interim boss Lee Carsley.

England fans have been left unimpressed with Lee Carsley's final squad as interim manager before he steps aside for Thomas Tuchel.

Carsley was brought in as England interim manager after Gareth Southgate left in the summer.


The former Republic of Ireland international has not been afraid in giving youngsters opportunities since taking carge and handed out four new caps in September while Dominic Solanke received his first call-up in seven years last month.

Carsley has now made more changes to the England squad for their final Nations League group matches against Greece and the Republic of Ireland.

Lee Carsley

Lee Carsley has named his final England squad

Reuters

Southampton defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Newcastle United full-back Lewis Hall have been handed their first senior call-ups while Liverpool star Curtis Jones is back in the mix.

Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish, Cole Palmer and Declan Rice have also been included despite all four being injury doubts.

John Stones is the most notable absentee having been a regular in the defence alongside Marc Guehi.

It is Carsley's final squad before he steps down as interim manager for Tuchel to take charge on a full-time basis.

But many fans feel Carsley used his final squad to simply hand out opportunities to players he worked with in the Under-21s.

One fan wrote: "LOLOLOL Carsley is giving all his old boys jobs."

Another sarcastically posted: "Carsley trying to give anyone a cap."

A third fumed: "Terrible squad. Carsley is the worst manager in English history."

Taylor Harwood-Bellis captained the England Under-21s

Taylor Harwood-Bellis captained the England Under-21s

PA

One other said: "I guess Carsley is just gifting caps to his lads now."

Another message read: "I’m pretty sure Lee Carsley is just calling up youngsters for the bants at this point."

Carsley defended his choice to go with Hall and Harwood-Bellis having worked with them both at the Under-21 level.

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Curtis Jones has been called back up to the England squad

Curtis Jones has been called back up to the England squad

PA

"They are both players who have played a lot of minutes this season," he said.

"They have shown they can consistently play in the Premier League at a high level.

"They are players I know really well."

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