Carsley: “Believe in the younger players.” - England u21s 4-1 Moldova u21s
Lee Carsley discusses his team’s emphatic win of Moldova.
England u21s manager Lee Carsley urged his fellow managers to “believe in the younger players” as his side returned to winning ways on Tuesday night after a solid performance saw off Moldova at Carrow Road.
England returned to home soil after a frustrating draw with Andorra last time out and got off to the perfect possible start.
Ethan Nwaneri broke the deadlock on 11 minutes as he fired into the top corner of Artur Nazarciuc’s net after the Moldovan keeper parried Myles Lewis-Skelly’s effort into the path of the Marseille forward.
Moldova came roaring back just moments into the second half through Vasile Luchita who’s right footed effort got the better of Tommy Setford after Cristian Antonciuc had been allowed to run at the defence.
Tottenham’s Archie Gray reestablished England’s lead and spared a few blushes on 61 minutes with a little help from the woodwork to conclude a nervy period for the hosts who were finding the affair tougher than expected in the second half.
Ten minutes later, Nwaneri added his second with a calmly struck effort that burst through the hands of Nazarciuc to hand the hosts breathing space on a night where they needed to be emphatic.
Substitute Romain Esse added a fourth, eight minutes from time as Fulham’s Josh King found the 20-year old unmarked in the area. The Coventry City forward nodded home from 10 yards to complete a rout on the night.
In his post-match comments, Carsley spoke of how integral opportunities are in the development of his young side:
“I believe we’ve got an abundance of quality and some of the best players in Europe at this age group."
“We just need clubs to believe in the younger players and give them that opportunity.”
“It’s very difficult for the players who aren’t playing at all. That’s why we can’t rely on the clubs to develop our players. We have to be part of that process.”
Vital minutes for Everton’s Tyler Dibling, who was integral in England’s second goal.
Everton winger, Tyler Dibling was integral in setting up England’s second, with the Everton winger finding minutes hard to come by of late. Carsley spoke on the 20-year-old:
“Tyler was a player that I wanted to see play. You can see he’s got a lot of talent and perhaps lacked a bit of sharpness, which is normal, because he’s not playing.”
A standard issue performance for the Young Lions, who showed a little of the naivety from Friday night’s disappointing performance, but were emphatic when it counted. A scoreline perhaps harsh on Moldova, who had their spells in the contest, but could not cope with the attacking prowess of the hosts.