Finland 1 England 3: Grealish strike and Trent stunner help Carsley’s side bounce back from Greece horror show
WHATEVER the future for Lee Carsley as England manager – and he is unlikely to last long – there have been some genuine positives.
And here in Helsinki’s Olympic Stadium those positives were highlighted as Jack Grealish, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Declan Rice earned England a much-needed Nations League victory.
All three of those scorers have benefited from Carsley’s management and after the mayhem of Thursday’s 2-1 defeat by Greece, they restored a sense of order to the national team.
Grealish, who became a father for the first time last week, netted the early opener – his second goal of Carsley’s interim reign.
Then Alexander-Arnold curled home a delicious free-kick before Rice netted his second goal of this brief “Carsball” era to ensure victory before a late consolation.
Carsley seems increasingly unlikely to get – or even actually want – this job on a permanent basis.
But after his tactical brainstorm against the Greeks, here was a return to calm good sense and a routine win against limited opposition.
It was England’s first journey to Helsinki’s historic Olympic Stadium since 2000 – and that journey also came on the back of a Wembley shambles.
On that occasion, Kevin Keegan had quit in the toilets of the old national stadium and Howard Wilkinson took charge of a goalless draw here in the Finnish capital.
After Thursday’s fiasco against the Greeks, Carsley stayed true to his promise and selected a more conventional team with Harry Kane fit enough to start up front after an ankle injury.
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The interim manager’s decision to drop Jordan Pickford – something Gareth Southgate barely ever did – made sense too after an extremely jittery display against Greece.
Dean Henderson was handed his first England start, and his first appearance in four years, with his team-mates kitted out in a Euro 96 shade of grey.
Carsley’s team began as if hungover from Thursday, Angel Gomes gifting possession deep in his own half and John Stones having to block a Benjamin Kallman shot.
Despite that early slip, Gomes soon stepped up. The little Lille man is a neat and tidy midfield anchor who makes a team tick.
After Bellingham had a shot deflected wide, Gomes provided a gorgeous assist for Grealish as part of an excellent team move which was by far and away England’s best work of a drab first half.
First Grealish located Alexander-Arnold, who had drifted in from his makeshift left-back role into central midfield.
The Liverpool man picked out Gomes, who turned two players and provided a sublime outside-of-the-boot pass for Grealish to slot home.
It was only the Manchester City man’s fourth goal from 39 caps, but his second in three appearances under Carsley.
After bossing possession with relatively little threat, England got sloppy towards the end of the first half and an Alexander-Arnold slip let in Fredrik Jensen, who ought to have punished the visitors but shot over from close range.
Palmer, who had been very quiet on the right wing, cut inside and tested Finland keeper Lukas Hradecky early in the second half.
But the Finns were still a threat and Jensen squandered another fine chance, with England caught out of shape by a counter-attack, the centre forward spooned one from close range after a centre from Topi Keskinen
Bellingham and Declan Rice both forced saves from Hradecky but England were hardly tearing up and midway through the second half, Carsley freshened it up by sending on Ollie Watkins for Kane and Noni Madueke for Palmer.
Watkins was soon teeing up Madueke, who got his dancing feet to work and caused panic in the Finnish defence with a low centre which Hradecky pushed away.
After England won a free-kick on the left, 22 yards out, Alexander-Arnold sized it up and curled his effort deftly into the postage stamp, Hradecky doing well even to get a hand to the ball but incapable of keeping it out.
Gomes and Bellingham were withdrawn in favour of Rico Lewis and Phil Foden and the third goal soon arrived.
Watkins darted down the left and centred low to the near post where Rice tapped in.
With the job done, the Arsenal man was substituted immediately.
Arttu Hoskinen then headed home a consolation from a corner.