England U21s Coach Lee โCarsley Praises Squad’s “Outstanding” November Form
BRATISLAVA, SLOVAKIA – โขNovember 21, 2025 โข- England under-21s head coach โคLee Carsley lauded his team’s performancesโฃ following a pair of november โvictoriesโค that secured a perfect five wins from fiveโ in their UEFA U21 EURO qualifying campaign.โข The Young Lionsโข concluded their successful year with a 4-0 win against Slovakia on Tuesday evening, โขbuilding on their 2-0 victory over Republic of Ireland in โขBirmingham last Friday.
Carsley highlighted the team’s ability to bond and adapt during the new campaign, following the success of his previous group whichโค claimed a title-winning summer.
“We’ve had probably our most arduous camp in โterms ofโฃ the quality of the oppositionโ and also the conditions when โwe’ve gone from really, really โฃwet last weekโ to really cold in Slovakia,” โขCarsley stated. “You always wantโ to give young players โthese 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 โขlot ofโฃ credit from โฃtheir performance tonight, a lot of themโ won’t have had to come away from home,โค played against the group leaders and then beat them so โคconvincingly before.”
Carsley specifically acknowledged the defensive unit, saying, “The defenders โand the goalkeepers should โtake a lotโ of credit,โค ther’s been aโฃ 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 โฃahead,Carsley acknowledged the challenges to come. “There’s still a lot of football to โbe played and this is โa new group, five games in.โข We’reโค in a good position with some tough games coming up.”
The coachโข also singled out individual performances, praising Chelsea’s Josh Acheampong andโข Arsenal’s Ethan nwaneri.”Josh โis a player we rate highly and he’sโค doing well at Chelsea,” โCarsley added. “He’s got a lot of potential and he just needs to keep playingโข and getting the experiences he’s getting with club andโ country.”
Regarding nwaneri, Carsley commented, “And ethan’s already done โคa campaign and โa EUROs โwith us, and this a brilliant team for Ethan to be a part of. I’m glad he got his goal [against Slovakia] becauseโข I know how desperate he is to keep improving and build on what’s an alreadyโข promising career.”