England manager, Lee Carsley was pleased by his team’s “big” 3-1 win away to Finland.
Goals from Jack Grealish, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Declan Rice saw England beat Finland in Helsinki to keep their promotion hopes alive, despite Arttu Hoskonen’s late consolatory header for the Finnish hosts.
“We were looking for a reaction, it’s a big thing,” commented Carsley who remains unsure about how his team responds to setbacks despite their solid response in Helsinki despite more room for improvement.
“We’re three or four games into it so it’s still not quite worked out how the team responds to setbacks.
“But I think they’ve responded really well in the best way and scored three good goals, a bit disappointed to concede that one at the end but I thought we were a lot better tonight.
“We played with a lot more control. Looking at the data we’ve got, we had massive possession, lots of passes, created a lot of chances but I think we could still be better.”
The interim boss took a tactical gamble in putting right-back, Trent Alexander-Arnold at left-back, in a move which paid off and left Carsley impressed at his effectiveness on the pitch.
“I think Trent’s quality speaks for itself, I don’t see it as finding a place for him, he’s more than earned his place.
“We do get bogged down with left-back, right-back, where’s his position but as long as he’s in effective positions it’s great to have him.
“I think it’s important that we have players of that quality and play to their strengths and we definitely do that with Trent.
Carsley also praised Finland for providing a strong opposition through their tactical style and formation, even if his substitutes made the difference in an otherwise tight contest.
“They were very well organised, five at the back and not a lot of space, so we had to wait and create that space.
“When you have as much possession as we do you’re always going to create chances from 70 minutes onwards, so it was good that the subs that came on made such an impact which was pleasing.”
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