England U21 shell-shocked by Germany, says Carsley as defending champs limp to quarters despite 2-1 defeat.
In their 2-1 loss to Germany in the European Under-21 Championship, Lee Carsley claims his England U21 team was “shell-shocked” and “need to address” their performance from the beginning.
In the first thirty-three minutes of their last group encounter, the reigning champions were behind 2-0. Alex Scott responded with a more promising performance in the second half.
Since Slovenia’s 2-0 loss to the Czech Republic meant that the Young Lions did not suffer more from the Germany result, England will now play Spain in the quarterfinals.
“I thought there was definitely a bit of shell-shock, going 2-0 down so soon,” said Carsley. “We didn’t start well either in the last game [0-0] against Slovenia. That’s something we need to address.”
In an attempt to improve his team’s dismal start, Carsley, who made four changes to his starting lineup, made a quadruple substitute at halftime, adding Genoa right-back Brooke Norton-Cuffy, captain James McAtee, and striker Jay Stansfield.
After serving as the senior team’s temporary head coach, Carsley hasn’t had as much time as he would have to get his team ready for the event.
“The first half was nowhere near good enough. The way we started the game, the goals that we conceded were really disappointing,” he added.
“It was important they knew that. The changes we made at half-time, [we] could have made any number of changes. I asked for a reaction in the second half and we definitely saw a reaction.
“The performance was not at the level we need. When you think of the reaction in the second half that was more like it. It took us to go 2-0 down to get to that point which is disappointing.”