Interim England manager Lee Carsley is adamant that he has not ruled himself out of the job on a permanent basis after hinting that he was not yet the world-class coach needed. (More Football News)
England responded to their shock 2-1 defeat at home to Greece on Thursday with a 3-1 victory in Finland on Sunday.
While the Three Lions were still not at their brilliant best, it was a marked improvement on their last match. However, conversation was dominated by Carsley's future and questions over who will take the role after the match.
"Definitely not," Carsley said after being asked in the post-match press conference whether he felt it was too soon for him to become the senior manager.
"I tried to make it as clear as I could. My remit was for three camps. The point I was trying to make is it is one of the top jobs in the world.
"I'm not part of the process, but it deserves a top coach. The players we have available, we've got a real chance of winning. That was the point I was making."
Plenty had assumed that the 50-year-old's comments about still being on the path to becoming a world-class coach were effectively him putting himself out of the running for the job.
Among a volley of questions about the future of the job, he was asked directly if that was an incorrect conclusion to draw from those remarks.
"Yeah, definitely. Like I say, it's important that I do the best that I can," he said.
"It's a privilege to do this job. I feel well trusted, it's a great job and, you know, whoever gets it will be fully deserving."
Regardless of his comments in Helsinki though, Carsley does have a track record of being non-committal when asked about the potential of getting the job permanently.
That is, according to him, because he has been deliberately trying to keep an open mind about things after learning from previous experiences.
"I'm definitely reluctant [to say whether I want the job] because in the past, when I've done this caretaker/interim role, I've gone so far down the 'I don’t want the job' [route] that I've actually not done the job," he said.
"One of the things I spoke about when I was asked to take temporary charge is that it's important I keep an open mind because in that case, I’m not being reckless with my decisions.
"I'm thinking thoroughly about how the team should play, the squad I should pick, which is a challenge because squad selection is very difficult.
"The amount of players we have to leave out and what we've got available for us, and I've got another camp to do. It's just a shame we can't play Greece next week."
England's away game in Greece will be their most important in deciding their Nations League fate, with their upcoming hosts top of the group with a three-point buffer to second.
Carsley's side will need to win and then better Greece's result at Wembley if they are to have any chance of returning to the top division in the competition. But the interim manager was ultimately pleased with what he saw on Sunday.
"We won the game, scored three good goals," he added. "It was a shame we couldn't keep a clean sheet.
"I still don't know the players that well yet in terms of the way the team reacts to a defeat and a setback, so I was thrilled with the way they responded."
