Lee Carsley: 'We're moving in the right direction'

Lee Carsley says England won’t be getting too carried away after their 3-0 win over Greece in Athens put the Three Lions on top of their UEFA Nations League group table.

Goals from Ollie Watkins and debutant Curtis Jones, either side of an own goal from Greek goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos, gave Carsley’s team a vital victory as they look to secure promotion back to League A.

And with England’s destiny now in their own hands, knowing that a win against Republic of Ireland at Wembley on Sunday will be enough to see them promoted, Carsley was happy with the performance but said focus is firmly on that final game.

“I think it represents we're moving in the right direction, but we won't get too carried away,” said Carsley after the game.

“We've got a big game now on Sunday at Wembley, so we're looking forward to that and it's important we recover and get ready for that.”

Carsley’s team were given a dream start, with Watkins’ goal after seven minutes settling the nerves as England started on the front foot in the Greek capital.

And he was pleased with the way his team performed after tailoring his selection towards the opposition and giving opportunities to players – with three senior debutants in Jones and second-half substitutes Lewis Hall and Morgan Rogers.

“It's just important that the players play to their strengths,” he added.

“We've got a lot of outstanding talent, the players that weren't here, we concentrated on the ones that were. We spoke about it yesterday, about players getting opportunities and we've seen that tonight.

“Curtis is an outstanding player, I thought he played really well today and even without his goal, it was an excellent performance and I'm really delighted for him.

“People were speaking about it last night, the inexperience in the squad, but these players play week-in and week-out in the Premier League at a really high level.

“Lewis is a testament to Newcastle and to himself that he was able to come on in an atmosphere like that and perform the way he did. Same with Morgan Rogers, he’s been really good at Villa.

“He probably could've been in the senior squad a little bit earlier but it was important that we took our time with him because hopefully he'll be here for a while.”

The Three Lions squad will return from Greece overnight, before starting their preparation for the Ireland game on Friday.