Latest news with #LeeCarsley
BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- Sport
- BreakingNews.ie
Harvey Elliott loves Liverpool but doesn't want to ‘waste years' on sidelines
Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott admits he does not want to be 'wasting years' of his career as he faces a crucial decision about where his future lies. The 22-year-old was limited to just 18 appearances during the last Premier League season, starting only twice as Liverpool went on to win their 20th title. Advertisement Elliott was named in Lee Carsley's under-21 squad for the European Championship in Slovakia where England get their campaign under way against Czech Republic on Thursday. The boyhood Reds fan was left in tears during Liverpool's on-pitch title celebrations, which may hint that he sees his future away from Anfield. Asked whether he is considering leaving the club he loves, he replied: 'It's just a situation that me and the team have to have a conversation about because I'm coming into an age now where I'm 22, I'm going to be 23 next season. 'I don't really want to be wasting years on my career because it's a short career. You don't know what's going to happen. Advertisement 'I need to reflect. I need to see if I'm content in doing what I'm doing and how can I improve as a player because that's the most important thing. Harvey Elliott featured only 18 times in the Premier League last season (Peter Byrne/PA) 'I just want to improve and be the best possible version of myself. If that's to go somewhere else, then it's a decision that I'm going to have to make and I just need to see what happens. 'Nothing makes me want to leave. I love the club, I love the fans, the team. I support them as well. But most importantly, it's just about what's best for my career.' Elliott's high point of the campaign came during Liverpool's smash-and-grab 1-0 first-leg Champions League victory over Paris St Germain. Advertisement After facing a barrage of pressure at Parc Des Princes, Elliott climbed off the bench in the 86th minute and swept home the winner just 47 seconds later to put Liverpool in the driving seat. Elliott thought that moment would ignite his season, so he was slightly disappointed to find his subsequent game time limited. Elliott scored the winner against Paris St Germain (Adam Davy/PA) Asked if he expected he would get more minutes, he added: 'I thought so. I thought PSG was kind of a high for me, especially with the Premier League game coming up a few days later. 'I thought it was an opportunity for me to get a start and showcase what I can do and just get a nice run out but the boss is the boss. Advertisement 'He's the man in charge. He's the reason why we've won the league, because of his decisions. His decisions were not to start me, I can't complain.' Elliott was crowned a title winner as Liverpool finished a convincing 10 points in front of second-placed Arsenal. Liverpool manager Arne Slot, centre right, is sprayed with champagne by Elliott, centre left (Peter Byrne/PA) Despite his Premier League medal, Elliott thinks it has been a difficult season for him personally after also suffering a fractured foot in September. He said: 'It's been a bit different. The game time hasn't been as much. It's been a difficult season I would say. It's been a season where, especially in the Premier League, we've dominated and coming into a team that's doing so well. Advertisement 'After my injury, I think it was always going to be hard but I'd hoped I would have got some more opportunities but football is football.'
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
England No 1 James Beadle is ready to prove his doubters wrong as he targets Euros history for Lee Carsley's U21s this summer
James Beadle is determined to prove that England 's next generation of stars can establish a period of dominance by going back-to-back as winners of the Under-21 European Championships. Victory in Georgia two years ago saw England win their first Under-21 Euros title in 39 years and with Beadle now Lee Carsley 's No 1, he's eager to show that that success was not a one-off. 'It's been a long build-up now to the tournament and I think the main goal for us is winning,' he said. 'As a country now we want to start winning things and it starts at youth ages like Under-21s so that's what we want to do.' England's final four preparation games in the lead up to the Euros saw them draw two tricky away games to Spain and the Netherlands, lose away to France before beating Portugal at home. So, how does Beadle think this 23-man squad picked by Carsley, which is set to lose Jobe Bellingham as he nears a move to Borussia Dortmund in time for the Club World Cup, stack up? 'I think we're at least on par if not better when you look at the talent in this squad,' he said. 'We can definitely compete and try to turn them over.' Beadle is here talking with a calm self-assurance that is well mature beyond his 20 years of age. It is striking too that he has not been rocked by an end of season on loan at Sheffield Wednesday where he found himself dropped as No 1 by boss Danny Rohl with eight games to go. 'Overall it was a big learning experience to grow as a player and grow as a person,' Beadle explained. 'I think a lot of things happened, good games, bad games, but overall just a good time of improvement for me. 'Towards the end of my time at Wednesday I don't think I really performed to my best for whatever reason. 'Now after taking a step back I understand why and in this tournament and looking ahead I know what I need to do to be at my best more consistently.' Crucially then, leading into this tournament, what specifically did Beadle see that he didn't like? 'Just going through clips, going through games, and I just don't think I performed to my capabilities,' he added. 'I know how good I am, I know I can perform at that level, and in the future I know what I need to do to stay more at my level.' Beadle played 38 times in the Championship last season at the pressure cooker that is Sheffield Wednesday and Mail Sport understands he will join Birmingham City on loan from parent club Brighton this time around. He is a young goalkeeper navigating his way and has spent much of his early career in at the deep end as a No 1. 'Sometimes you've got to take a step back to properly look at it and that's when I came out of the team,' he continued. 'It was really hard to take at the time but when you take a step back and realise how I was actually performing, it is what it is. 'I don't really go on social media or anything, I try to live in my own bubble, but at the time when results aren't going well and you aren't performing at the level you can you know you're going to get criticised. I have no issue being criticised if I know I'm not performing to the level I can.' For now, all talk of a new move has been parked to the side and Beadle is laser-focused on the Euros, which get underway for England live on Channel 4 on Thursday night against Czechia. Beadle holds Premier League ambitions and he hopes this tournament can elevate his profile James Trafford won this tournament as No 1 goalkeeper in 2023 and is now playing in the Premier League with Burnley. He's also on the radar of the senior side. It is a path Beadle is fully confident he can replicate. 'It's definitely a big goal for me to try and break into that senior side but it starts at club level so hopefully I can do that in the Championship this year and in the near future be in the Premier League and then hopefully get a call-up,' he said, 'I trained with the first team here once which was a brilliant experience as it shows the level you need to get to. I know Traf [James Trafford] from the 21s and just seeing how they work and hoping to get in that squad soon. 'I trained with [Jordan] Pickford, [Dean] Henderson and [Nick] Pope so it was a really good level. 'It showed how different they all are and it's about just being the best you can be and maximising your qualities. 'Pope, Henderson, Pickford are three very different goalkeepers but they all make it work for themselves. As a goalkeeper you need to maximise what you have.' And that is exactly what Beadle is determined to do. After being taken out of the spotlight to end the club season, he's champing at the bit to remind everyone just how good he really is.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
Wanted: England footballers with some personality
In the build-up to the dismal victory over Andorra, Thomas Tuchel was asked whether an England team can win a World Cup relying on what we often call traditional English qualities. Tuchel immediately requested that the questioner named those qualities and he was told 'pace, power and strength'. There was no lack of that in the England team the head coach named in Barcelona, even though not much of it was displayed in temperatures that will be much cooler than those anticipated in the United States next year. But what England are really missing, and have been for some time, is personality and identity. What were England at the end of Gareth Southgate's reign? Where did they go during Lee Carsley's interim spell? And what does a Tuchel England team look like? It's hard to provide definitive answers to all three questions. Tuchel seems torn between wanting what he believes is an England side, one that maximises the strengths of Premier League football, and acknowledging that will not be possible in the heat of the World Cup. In his first international job, he also seems to be learning that different club demands dictate how much he can implement his own ideas. 'In the end, we have so many players from different clubs we need to narrow the idea down and not overload with too many ideas and try to be consistent to form an idea of how we want to be successful and knowing the World Cup is not played in England, it is played in the United States, Canada and Mexico,' said Tuchel. 'It can be that at some point we need to adjust our style of play when it comes to tournament football, when it comes to knockout football. Everyone wants to win, everyone wants to win in style. Can you really play the same game in 40C heat and humidity that you play in 20C in an evening match? So, these are some questions that I don't have all the answers to and I don't have to right now because we still have one year to go. But we are on it to answer them.' Replacing Southgate was always going to be tough for the Football Association, but the transition to Tuchel has, in hindsight, been messy, and did not lend itself to England entering World Cup qualifying with a discernible plan. Southgate started the transition process by calling time on Jordan Henderson's England career and omitting Harry Maguire and Jack Grealish from his squad for the European Championship last summer. Carsley brought back Grealish, but tried to find new answers in midfield, preferring Angel Gomes to Adam Wharton, who Southgate took to the Euros. Southampton defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis played and scored in Carsley's final game in charge, a 5-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland at Wembley in November. Anthony Gordon looked to have made the left side his own, but is yet to start under Tuchel. There had been excitable talk of 'Carsball' after September's win in Ireland, although that blew up in his face when England were beaten by Greece at Wembley the following month. We are yet to find out what Tuchel's England team will be and the head coach was quite right to point out that he still has a year to come up with an answer. If there is such a thing as 'Tuchball', it does not appear to be the approach he used so successfully at Chelsea with the 51-year-old yet to try three at the back and wing-backs with the Three Lions. If Carsley was meant to be the short-term continuity candidate who presented Tuchel with an England plan to build on, then the German has already ripped it up. One imagines that we will never see Harwood-Bellis in an England shirt under Tuchel, who has brought 33-year-old Dan Burn into his squad. Brawn, muscle and traditional defensive instincts have been favoured over an ability to play the ball out from the back. Marc Guehi was groomed by Southgate and Carsley to be the mainstay of an England defence without Maguire or John Stones, but Tuchel has looked elsewhere for the 'strong, aggressive defenders with big personalities' he believes are essential. He may eventually have to accept that he does not have any English equivalents of Antonio Rüdiger and César Azpilicueta to pick from. Stones's unavailability has been an issue Tuchel is yet to solve as he was England's primary ball-playing centre-back and without him the team struggle to start attacks from defence. Burn was guilty of a couple of terrible passes against Andorra. Henderson started for the first time since November 2023 in Espanyol's stadium in Barcelona. Tuchel has reinstated the midfielder for his leadership qualities, which he insists have already been evident behind the scenes. But that is yet to translate to an injection of personality on the pitch. Wharton has not played for England since last summer's warm-up games for the Euros and Gomes is already a forgotten man. Declan Rice is a player from both the Southgate and Carsley eras who possesses plenty of personality. He was rested for the majority of the Andorra game and England missed his ability to drive with the ball and raise energy levels. It is odd that Tuchel did not immediately appoint Rice as Harry Kane's official vice-captain. Injuries have meant Bukayo Saka is yet to play for Tuchel and he, too, can add personality to the current side, but Southgate's new-look squad struggled to cope with expectation and criticism in Germany last summer and that still appears to be an issue. Tuchel described Cole Palmer as 'a unique character who does not speak too much'. There have been signs of Reece James coming out of his shell at Chelsea, but he can be an introverted character. Tuchel is the third England coach to find that harnessing the immense talent of Jude Bellingham is not a simple task. Kane is an ambassadorial leader who can set standards through his performances and delivery, but he is not a personality whose character shapes a team's identity. So where does Tuchel look for personality over the next 12 months? He clearly hopes Grealish will clinch a transfer that affords him enough playing minutes to earn an England recall and that Stones recovers from injury and plays enough, either at Manchester City or elsewhere, to reclaim his place. But, otherwise, Tuchel may have to rely on his own personality to rub off on his players between now and the World Cup to prevent an identity issue becoming a full-on crisis. Tuchel: No regrets about criticising my players Thomas Tuchel says he is ready for the intense pressure of being England manager after his honeymoon period ended with fans jeering at the final whistle of the embarrassing win against Andorra. After scraping past the team 173rd in Fifa's world rankings, Tuchel needs a positive performance against Senegal at the City Ground on Tuesday evening in the last game of the season. The German coach is prepared to be in the firing line as he prepares for next year's World Cup. Tuchel and his players are still unbeaten in World Cup qualifiers but getting booed off at half-time against lowly Andorra also happened to Steve McClaren and Fabio Capello during campaigns with disastrous endings. 'I always feel pressure as I am not happy with myself,' Tuchel said. 'The biggest pressure comes from myself. We have three wins and three clean sheets and we have a friendly match on Tuesday. I have felt more pressure than that.' When asked about England managers being judged differently to club football, he added: 'Fair enough. I am always ready for that.' Tuchel was critical of his players after the 1-0 victory over Andorra and held a team meeting the day after, to pick through the worrying aspects. He has no regrets about criticising his players for what he saw during one of the worst victories in England's history. His main issues were that players did not look like they were taking the qualifier seriously with their attitude and body language looking disappointing. Tuchel also felt his team lacked energy in the match which came at the end of a long domestic season and before the start of the Club World Cup. Chelsea and Manchester City players – plus Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold – are all playing in that competition. 'The risk is only that you exaggerate it and make something of it that was not there,' said Tuchel. 'Everything I said I said already to the team. There is no harm done. We were not happy and no single player will be happy with what we showed. Why would the coach be? 'And why would we be shy of saying so? If we want to get better we first need to address that we were not happy with the end of both halves. 'We still won a match. We still won a World Cup qualifier and I am the first one to ask if we could do better. We scored, we got a little bit like 'nothing will happen'. That's basically it. I would choose the same line-up again because that was my choice on what we saw and what we believed. 'We don't have a lot of matches. We worship every training and we worship every match. Of course it will be a good test.' Tuchel also explained that his decision not to play Ivan Toney was based on the Al-Ahli striker's performances in training. He will now decide on his attacking line-up to face Senegal, with Kane playing for 90 minutes in the heat of Barcelona at the weekend. 'I have seen him in training and I made my decisions and the guys who were on the pitch absolutely deserved it,' he said. 'Harry I think showed the attitude in the end to bring it over the line. He was one of the very few who stepped up and put a shift in at the end when things got a bit stuck and uncomfortable.' England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford welcomed Tuchel's criticism of the performance and says there must be honesty about where England are as they prepare for the World Cup. 'In everyday life, if you are working in an office or working in professional sport, when you are not on your A-game you have to step up and you need the boss to be critical,' he said. 'It is a great thing. When you are criticised as a team you always want to improve. We are happy we won but not happy how we played as a team and that is the [job of the] manager to be critical and that is what you want as a football team.'
South Wales Guardian
2 days ago
- Sport
- South Wales Guardian
Harvey Elliott loves Liverpool but doesn't want to ‘waste years' on sidelines
The 22-year-old was limited to just 18 appearances during the last Premier League season, starting only twice as Liverpool went on to win their 20th title. Elliott was named in Lee Carsley's under-21 squad for the European Championship in Slovakia where England get their campaign under way against Czech Republic on Thursday. The boyhood Reds fan was left in tears during Liverpool's on-pitch title celebrations, which may hint that he sees his future away from Anfield. Asked whether he is considering leaving the club he loves, he replied: 'It's just a situation that me and the team have to have a conversation about because I'm coming into an age now where I'm 22, I'm going to be 23 next season. 'I don't really want to be wasting years on my career because it's a short career. You don't know what's going to happen. 'I need to reflect. I need to see if I'm content in doing what I'm doing and how can I improve as a player because that's the most important thing. 'I just want to improve and be the best possible version of myself. If that's to go somewhere else, then it's a decision that I'm going to have to make and I just need to see what happens. 'Nothing makes me want to leave. I love the club, I love the fans, the team. I support them as well. But most importantly, it's just about what's best for my career.' Elliott's high point of the campaign came during Liverpool's smash-and-grab 1-0 first-leg Champions League victory over Paris St Germain. After facing a barrage of pressure at Parc Des Princes, Elliott climbed off the bench in the 86th minute and swept home the winner just 47 seconds later to put Liverpool in the driving seat. Elliott thought that moment would ignite his season, so he was slightly disappointed to find his subsequent game time limited. Asked if he expected he would get more minutes, he added: 'I thought so. I thought PSG was kind of a high for me, especially with the Premier League game coming up a few days later. 'I thought it was an opportunity for me to get a start and showcase what I can do and just get a nice run out but the boss is the boss. 'He's the man in charge. He's the reason why we've won the league, because of his decisions. His decisions were not to start me, I can't complain.' Elliott was crowned a title winner as Liverpool finished a convincing 10 points in front of second-placed Arsenal. Despite his Premier League medal, Elliott thinks it has been a difficult season for him personally after also suffering a fractured foot in September. He said: 'It's been a bit different. The game time hasn't been as much. It's been a difficult season I would say. It's been a season where, especially in the Premier League, we've dominated and coming into a team that's doing so well. 'After my injury, I think it was always going to be hard but I'd hoped I would have got some more opportunities but football is football.'
North Wales Chronicle
2 days ago
- Sport
- North Wales Chronicle
Harvey Elliott loves Liverpool but doesn't want to ‘waste years' on sidelines
The 22-year-old was limited to just 18 appearances during the last Premier League season, starting only twice as Liverpool went on to win their 20th title. Elliott was named in Lee Carsley's under-21 squad for the European Championship in Slovakia where England get their campaign under way against Czech Republic on Thursday. The boyhood Reds fan was left in tears during Liverpool's on-pitch title celebrations, which may hint that he sees his future away from Anfield. Asked whether he is considering leaving the club he loves, he replied: 'It's just a situation that me and the team have to have a conversation about because I'm coming into an age now where I'm 22, I'm going to be 23 next season. 'I don't really want to be wasting years on my career because it's a short career. You don't know what's going to happen. 'I need to reflect. I need to see if I'm content in doing what I'm doing and how can I improve as a player because that's the most important thing. 'I just want to improve and be the best possible version of myself. If that's to go somewhere else, then it's a decision that I'm going to have to make and I just need to see what happens. 'Nothing makes me want to leave. I love the club, I love the fans, the team. I support them as well. But most importantly, it's just about what's best for my career.' Elliott's high point of the campaign came during Liverpool's smash-and-grab 1-0 first-leg Champions League victory over Paris St Germain. After facing a barrage of pressure at Parc Des Princes, Elliott climbed off the bench in the 86th minute and swept home the winner just 47 seconds later to put Liverpool in the driving seat. Elliott thought that moment would ignite his season, so he was slightly disappointed to find his subsequent game time limited. Asked if he expected he would get more minutes, he added: 'I thought so. I thought PSG was kind of a high for me, especially with the Premier League game coming up a few days later. 'I thought it was an opportunity for me to get a start and showcase what I can do and just get a nice run out but the boss is the boss. 'He's the man in charge. He's the reason why we've won the league, because of his decisions. His decisions were not to start me, I can't complain.' Elliott was crowned a title winner as Liverpool finished a convincing 10 points in front of second-placed Arsenal. Despite his Premier League medal, Elliott thinks it has been a difficult season for him personally after also suffering a fractured foot in September. He said: 'It's been a bit different. The game time hasn't been as much. It's been a difficult season I would say. It's been a season where, especially in the Premier League, we've dominated and coming into a team that's doing so well. 'After my injury, I think it was always going to be hard but I'd hoped I would have got some more opportunities but football is football.'
