Republic of Ireland vs England LIVE: Nations League result and final score as Lee Carsley makes winning start
Republic of Ireland 0-2 England: Declan Rice and Jack Grealish were unpopular goalscorers in Dublin in an impressive first-half display under Carsley
England made a winning start under interim boss Lee Carsley as Declan Rice and Jack Grealish scored against the Republic of Ireland in their Nations League opener in Dublin.
In England’s first match since the Euro 2024 final, marking the start of the new era after Gareth Southgate’s resignation, the Three Lions made a confident start in a fiery atmosphere and took a deserved lead through goals from players who made unpopular returns to the Aviva. Rice and Grealish, having represented Ireland at youth level, were booed by the home crowd but struck against them within the opening 26 minutes.
Grealish’s second goal, set up by Rice, came from a flowing England move that summed up their impressive first-half display under Carsley. However, England lost their rhythm after the break as Ireland grew into the contest, in what could have been a tribute act to some of Southgate’s former side’s performances at the recent European Championships.
The visitors, though, were largely untroubled by a limited Ireland side and there were opportunities for Morgan Gibbs-White and Angel Gomes to make their England debuts late on. Follow all the rection and analysis from England’s win over Republic of Ireland in the Nations League
Republic of Ireland vs England LIVE
The teams will be emerging from the tunnel soon.
Carsley has just been on ITV ahead of kick-off, and he says “the expectancy is there”.
He adds that he is “looking for them to be exciting”, and that England “will be concentrating on the performance”.
The anti-Rice and anti-Grealish banners are already out, and we’re moments away from the anthems.
What can we expect from England today?
The big news in the starting XI is that Jack Grealish looks to be starting in a more advanced role in midfield, in what is nowadays referred to as the ‘10’ position. As in Germany, Rice will sit back with Mainoo likely to try and link the two, though this didn’t quite work at Euro 2024.
Perhaps the introduction of Grealish, who is more naturally creative than Jude Bellingham, can have the desired affect in attack.
With Mainoo, England may struggle with the same thing that Erik ten Hag is struggling with at club level – not really knowing the youngster’s best role in midfield. He is incapable of playing as a lone defensive midfielder, and though he looked secure with Rice in Germany, there was a sense that it he perhaps wasn’t the right fit in that system.
Perhaps Rice and Mainoo are simply not a complementary pairing, but it is worth trying a more naturally attacking midfielder alongside them both to see if it pays off.
Carsley speaks to ITV before kick-off
Lee Carsley spoke to ITV briefly in the lead-up to kick-off, and said he is in “an incredibly proud position” today.
“It’s an incredibly proud position for myself and my family. I’m really looking forward to the game. I’ve got so much respect for both national anthems and I’ll stand there proudly today.
“It’s a real proud moment, a moment I’m really looking forward to and I can’t wait for the game now,” he added.
Regarding the national anthem, he said: “Everyone is entitled to their opinion – as a player making my debut in 1996, 1997, whatever it was, I was totally focused on the game and it was something I found difficult to get used to, in terms of the delay and I used to spend that time really concentrating on keeping my focus.
“And that hasn’t changed since I’ve been coaching.”
Today’s Nations League fixtures
A rundown of today’s other fixtures from Uefa’s official X account.
Form guide
England come into this game fresh off a disappointing end to Euro 2024, in which they were beaten 2-1 by Spain in the final.
The Three Lions form over the last five games is W3, D1, L1, though one of those wins was in extra-time against Slovakia, and another one was on penalties against Switzerland.
The Three Lions’ last win in normal time was against the Netherlands in the semi-final of Euro 2024, and their only other win in 90 minutes in that tournament was against Serbia in their opening match.
Ireland (W1, D2, L2) didn’t qualify for the summer tournament in Germany, though they beat Hungary 2-1 and lost 3-0 to Portugal in friendlies in June before the competition started.
Their three games before that ended with draws to New Zealand and Belgium, and a 1-0 loss to Switzerland.
What do fans and the media want from England?
Plenty of the criticism that England faced during Euro 2024 – and in the immediate aftermath of the loss to Spain in the final – revolved around the lack of a concrete system, which lead to ineffectiveness in attack and a defence that was too easy to open up in the final.
Even in matches where England dominated possession, they created too few notable attacking opportunities and too often relied on brilliant moments from their big names, such as Jude Bellingham’s equaliser against Slovakia.
Perhaps Lee Carsley’s main job is to find a way to balance the side while incorporating all of the main talents, but with players such as Foden and Bellingham unavailable during this autumn international break, Carsley’s main role for now is simply to get England playing some entertaining football while also dominating control of the ball.
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