Finland v England LIVE: Lee Carsley makes six adjustments in Nations League

Lee Carsley believes England have to get out of the “comfort zone” and try different things like his bold selection in the defeat to Greece, in order to cross the line and win something. The interim manager insisted it would be “naive” to keep with the same approach, as the national team attempts to end a 60-year wait for a trophy.

Carsley played a surprising formation that featured all of England’s attacking stars on Thursday, only to lose 2-1 in a performance that is now being perceived as potentially costing him a chance at the role full-time. He again insisted he isn’t thinking about but instead looking at the bigger picture of leaving the team in a better place for the 2026 World Cup and future tournaments.

While he has said he will not use Thursday’s formation in the match away to Finland on Sunday, he did argue they have to keep it open for the future. “We’re not that far away,” Carsley said.

England have played Finland 12 times, with the first meeting dating back to 1937, when England ran out 8-0 winners.

None of the 12 meetings have come at a major tournament, though six have come in various World cup qualifying campaigns.

The Three Lions have never lost to Finland – they’ve won 10 meetings and drawn the other two.

The last meeting between the two sides came in September, when Harry Kane marked his 100th England cap with both goals in a 2-0 win.

For Lee Carsley, every decision is now about something bigger, no matter how outlandish it seems. Except, he still insists it is not about this great opportunity he’s been presented with.

The interim England manager explicitly rejects the speculation surrounding the full-time role, and says it’s about “the rest of the staff and the players… to try something different”.

“We’re looking at the bigger picture in terms of the World Cup qualification and then hopefully the World Cup,” Carsley said before the side’s trip to Finland, as he discussed the confusing performance in a shock 2-1 defeat to Greece.

Lee Carsley has made six changes to the side that lost 2-1 to Greece in midweek. In goal, Dean Henderson replaces Jordan Pickford.

In defence, Kyle Walker and Marc Guehi replace Rico Lewis and Levi Colwill, while Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon are replaced in midfield by Jack Grealish and Angel Gomes. There’s a re-shuffle in midfield, with Jude Bellingham dropping back from the more attacking role he had last time out; Cole Palmer will presumably be on the right wing this time too.

In attack, Harry Kane plays as a lone striker as Phil Foden drops to the bench.

Finland XI: Hradecky, Peltola, Ivanov, Hoskonen, Kamara, Jensen, Schüller, Alho, Uronen, Källman, Keskinen.

Subs: Joronen, Sinisalo, Galvez, Antman, Lod, Pukki, Ståhl, Pikkarainen, Tenho, Nissilä, Pohjanpalo, Walta.

England XI: Henderson; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Alexander-Arnold; Rice, Gomes; Grealish, Bellingham, Palmer; Kane.

Subs: Pickford, Lewis, Foden, Gordon, Gallagher, Colwill, Livramento, Watkins, Solanke, Pope, Madueke.

Here’s a recap of the early team news – line-ups should be announced in around five minutes.

England could be without Bukayo Saka after the Arsenal winger limped out of the defeat by Greece.

Harry Kane could come off the bench in Finland, but Carsley confirmed that the captain will not start the game after recently suffering a leg injury while playing for Bayern Munich.

And here’s a recap of that last England result…

A failed experiment, which will doubtless lead to the first calls over whether that should be said of Lee Carsley. The interim England manager himself said he wouldn’t describe his tactical approach to this first senior defeat in that way, only to also say it was something worth trying. He then actually refused to confirm he wanted the job, but talked around it so much he started to tie himself in knots.

There was even an unfortunate slip where he said “hopefully” he’d be returning to under-21s, but that was surely just on the condition he doesn’t end up with the senior job. The scrutiny that comes with the latter was perhaps getting to him for the first time. There were moments when his explanations seemed as confused as his formation. Against that, Greece had such a clear focus. Their 2-1 away win was all the worse since the brilliant Vangelis Pavlidis scored both of their goals to show Carsley the value of a forward on a night when he took the historic step to go without one.

A line that goes from Dixie Dean to Harry Kane was broken, for a false nine that will instead bring talk of a false dawn.

Michael O’Neill’s side had two goals ruled out and hit the post, all in the first half, but could not find the goal that would have sent them top of League C3 as their familiar lack of cutting edge proved costly.

Conor Bradley, given the captain’s armband, did as he usually does in another display of attacking verve, creating a string of opportunities for his team-mates – Jamie Reid in particular.

A reminder of some of the other home nations results from the past few days.

Ryan Christie shot the disciplined visitors ahead in the 33rd minute from a tight angle before striker Igor Matanovic levelled three minutes later.

Steve Clarke’s side came under increasing pressure after the break and eventually succumbed in the 70th minute of the League A Group 1 encounter at Stadion Maksimir when Andrej Kramaric headed the home side in front.

A reminder of some of the other home nations results from the past few days.

Wales let a two-goal lead slip as Iceland stormed back to force a deserved 2-2 Nations League draw in Reykjavik.

Brennan Johnson maintained his remarkable scoring streak and Harry Wilson was also on target as Wales established a commanding interval advantage.

But Iceland substitute Logi Tomasson turned the game in the space of three second-half minutes as Wales were unable to stem a blue tide surging towards them.