England U21s Coach Lee Carsley Praises Squad’s “Outstanding” November Form
BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA – November 21, 2025 - England under-21s head coach Lee Carsley lauded his team’s performances following a pair of november victories that secured a perfect five wins from five in their UEFA U21 EURO qualifying campaign. The Young Lions concluded their successful year with a 4-0 win against Slovakia on Tuesday evening, building on their 2-0 victory over Republic of Ireland in Birmingham last Friday.
Carsley highlighted the team’s ability to bond and adapt during the new campaign, following the success of his previous group which claimed a title-winning summer.
“We’ve had probably our most arduous camp in terms of the quality of the opposition and also the conditions when we’ve gone from really, really wet last week to really cold in Slovakia,” Carsley stated. “You always want to give young players these different kinds of experiences and set them up with that pressure to perform and then obviously win.”
He praised the team’s resilience, noting, “They can take a lot of credit from their performance tonight, a lot of them won’t have had to come away from home, played against the group leaders and then beat them so convincingly before.”
Carsley specifically acknowledged the defensive unit, saying, “The defenders and the goalkeepers should take a lot of credit, ther’s been a lot of blocks and the unpopular side of the game which we don’t talk about a lot but we really value – they’ve been outstanding.”
Looking ahead,Carsley acknowledged the challenges to come. “There’s still a lot of football to be played and this is a new group, five games in. We’re in a good position with some tough games coming up.”
The coach also singled out individual performances, praising Chelsea’s Josh Acheampong and Arsenal’s Ethan nwaneri.”Josh is a player we rate highly and he’s doing well at Chelsea,” Carsley added. “He’s got a lot of potential and he just needs to keep playing and getting the experiences he’s getting with club and country.”
Regarding nwaneri, Carsley commented, “And ethan’s already done a campaign and a EUROs with us, and this a brilliant team for Ethan to be a part of. I’m glad he got his goal [against Slovakia] because I know how desperate he is to keep improving and build on what’s an already promising career.”
