Before heading back to the England Under-21s, Lee Carsley will provide Thomas Tuchel with a ‘very detailed handover’, according to the FA.
It should be a chunky dossier, an attractive attachment to an email, detailing a deepening of the talent pool with eight debut-makers in Carsley’s six games as interim, a strong squad spirit, even a left-footed left-back in Lewis Hall and also the enduring importance of Harry Kane.
“I will put together a document,” Carsley confirmed after the 5-0 win over the Republic of Ireland that lifted England back to League A of the Nations League.
“I will hopefully go and meet Thomas and present what we think and what we’ve found. I look forward to meeting him in the next few weeks.
“The job for us as an Under-21 staff is to support the senior manager as much as we can, find out what he needs and how we can help.”
He has certainly helped Tuchel hugely.
The Kane section of Carsley’s document should be fascinating. Tuchel hardly needs any additional information about Kane, having taken him to Bayern Munich, but Carsley’s report will surely remind him of the captain’s calibre and ‘leadership qualities’.
At 31, and lacking a snap of pace, Kane can be questioned and questioned but he comes up with answers. He comes up with goals.
It is hard to see how anyone will ever catch Kane’s England goalscoring tally, currently 69 after 103 appearances, and he could possibly have another 20 games left in him. Tuchel will surely keep him as captain and No.9 in England’s 2026 World Cup campaign.
Kane’s influence and mobility was criticised at Euro 24 but he still finished joint top scorer.
Kane’s right to a starting place was plunged into doubt when Ollie Watkins began ahead of him in Athens last Thursday and scored within seven minutes against Greece.
The former Tottenham marksman has been used shrewdly by Carsley, playing only one game per international break, keeping him fresh. He remains the main man.
The concern with Kane has partly been around his insistence on dropping deep, straying into space where Jude Bellingham was doing his scheming, and then unable to re-join the attack swiftly enough.
In a frustrating first half low on incident and ideas, Kane dropped deep again and was closed down by Jayson Molumby. In the 27th minute, Kane collected the ball but found there were nine outfield players between him and Caoimhin Kelleher.
Here is the conundrum with Kane. He has an exceptional pass on him, as he demonstrated early in the second half when releasing Bellingham to win the penalty that Kane himself clinically converted.
Carsley enthused about Kane’s “quality, in terms of the pass he made to Jude, an unbelievable pass,” and made the telling point that Kane needed to have the right structure around, basically pace.
“We complemented him well with the runs Jude made, and the explosiveness of the players outside him,” Carsley said.
This was key. Kane needs pace and mobility around him, and he had that with Noni Madueke and Anthony Gordon, then Morgan Rogers and Jarrod Bowen. There is Bukayo Saka to come back on the right and Phil Foden and Cole Palmer to understudy Bellingham at No.10.
Carsley will need plenty of space in his document to list England’s options. “The next squad will be a challenge to pick,” Carsley said.
Gordon struck England’s second, finishing off some good approach play by his Newcastle United teammate Tino Livramento – and some chaotic Irish defending.
Gordon did not have the best of first halves but has largely shown under Carsley the balance and threat he gives England on the left. Madueke has built on his good season at Chelsea with his performances on the right.
Carsley can inform Tuchel that the full-back picture looks more positive after Hall’s first start at left-back. He was composed, dealing well with the few Irish surges that came his way, and quick to support attack.
Tuchel knows all about him anyway, having given Hall his Chelsea debut in 2022. With Livramento’s assured second-half showing in particular, right-back is almost ridiculously over-stocked with Reece James and Trent Alexander-Arnold to return.
In midfield, Conor Gallagher has developed into even more of a consistent, ball-winning, ball-using force at Atletico Madrid, and reacted well to turn in Marc Guehi’s flick-on of a Madueke corner to make it 3-0.
The Three Lions were rampant, and Bowen made it 4-0 with his first touch.
Just to underline to Tuchel the wealth of talent, Carsley can report that Taylor Harwood-Bellis came on for his senior debut and promptly headed in Bellingham’s majestic cross.
Carsley’s lengthy document will not simply be Great Expectations, there will be a touch of Bleak House in there, too.
He can tell Tuchel about the media scrutiny. He can reflect on what England HQ can be like in the bad times.
“I’m still gutted about the Greek game at home,” Carsley said. “It’s a lonely place in the Wembley dug-out when you’re losing.”
If that was a painful experience for the interim, and largely self-inflicted by his decision to play too many No.10s and no No.9s, Carsley at least has turned the group around and got England promoted.
Thanks to Carsley, Tuchel can focus on the World Cup when he starts as head coach on January 1.
“It’s a job that deserves an elite coach with a track record of winning,” Carsley said.
“And Thomas has that.”
And will soon have a long document landing in his inbox.
