Key events
Half-time reading
Half time: Finland 0-1 England
England lead through Jack Grealish’s fourth goal for his country, made stylishly by Angel Gomes. They’ve been good at times, sloppy at others, and a resourceful Finland side have had good chances of their own.
See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
45 min Kallman’s shot on the turn is saved by Henderson, though he was fractionally offside so it wouldn’t have counted anyway.
43 min Bellingham overruns the ball in the area after receiving a sharp pass from Grealish on the left. That was half a chance.
42 min Finland have played well in the first half and been more competitive than most of us expected.
40 min Kallman heads over the bar after pulling off Guehi in the area. It was a difficult chance as the ball into him was played from a central position.
39 min “Hang on,” says Matt Dony. “Are we saying that you can’t believe everything that’s posted on Twitter?”
Politicians telling bald-faced lies is bad enough, but tactical misinformation is a new low for humanity.
38 min: Good chance for Jensen! A crossfield pass from left to right is headed back infield by Alho towards Jensen on the edge of the area. He runs through the challenge of Alexander-Arnold and splatters a half-volley over the bar. That was a really good opportunity.
36 min Most of England’s threat has been on the left-hand side, with Grealish, Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold seeing a lot of the ball.
35 min Bellingham, on the left, pings a terrific flat pass over the defence to find Rice in the area. He controls the ball in mid-air, inadvertently wrongfoots a defender in the process and has a snapshot that is blocked by a second defender and goes behind for a corner.
33 min Then England lose the ball and Finland break. The lively Keskinen runs at Stones and shoots straight at Henderson from the edge of the area.
32 min England keep the ball for 90 seconds or so to calm everything down. It does feel like they have another gear or two should they need them.
30 min “Some insider info: Finland was planning to play with a back five all along,” says Antti Vanhoja. “The commentators on Finnish TV were aware of the ruse and revealed it to the audience already before kick-off. A cunning plan, though not very effective.”
It’s a big sad that the culture of marginal gains has extended to deliberately putting your team in the wrong formation when you post it on Twitter, but you see it happen all the time.
29 min Keskinen’s shot takes a deflection off Walker and spins behind for a corner. Finland are having a good spell.
29 min Play resumes and Jensen has a shot on the turn from about 20 yards that is blocked. Gomes seems okay for now.
28 min There’s a break in play while Gomes receives treatment. It looks like he strained something while trying to challenge Jensen.
25 min Keskinen gets away from Walker and pings a decent cross into the middle. Kallman is the only Finland player in the box, however, and it’s nowhere near him.
23 min Grealish and Bellingham are combining a lot in the inside-left channel. England could still do with an overlapping left-back, but they have what they have.
23 min “All this messing with Trent isn’t doing him, or the team any good,” says Colum Farrelly. “Play him at right back. Or, in the absence of a fit left back, play him at left back. But omit the right-back-with-a-bit-of-midfielder, the left-back-with-free-role (wha?) and if he’s not playing well, don’t play him. Then he’ll know what he’s supposed to do and have a chance to do it well.”
21 min The last man Guehi shows excellent pace to beat Alho to a long ball forward. He looks very assured at this level.
19 min I know it’s only Nations League Group B2, but that eye-of-the-needle pass from Gomes was very classy.
Jack Grealish gets his second goal under Lee Carsley. Alexander-Arnold played a short pass into Gomes, 25 yards from goal. He controlled it on the half turn and flicked a gorgeous through ball for Grealish, who timed his run perfectly and passed the ball under Hradecky.
GOAL! Finland 0-1 England (Grealish 18)
Jack’s back.
17 min Jensen is penalised for a challenge on Bellingham, complains to the referee and receives an extravagant, arm-waving reprimand. You had to be there.
15 min Finland have done well so far to deny England space in the final third. It helps that England’s play has been quite relatively narrow. I do think that’s a problem the new manager needs to address.
13 min Incidentally, Topi Keskinen, who almost gave Finland the lead in the seventh minute, has a tattoo of Wayne Rooney on his person.
11 min A corner from Palmer is only half cleared by Finland. Alexander-Arnold walks onto the ball, 25 yards from goal, and hits a low drive that is kicked away. He didn’t catch it perfectly and looks frustrated with himself.
10 min The first bit of really good play from England. Grealish slides a crisp return pass into Bellingham on the edge of the area. He twists Jensen (I think) one way and then the other before hitting a shot that deflects off Jensen and spins behind for a corner.
8 min Now England almost get into trouble when Alexander-Arnold gives the ball away. A couple of moments of sloppiness from England.
7 min: Chance for Finland! All that passing from England and it’s Finland who almost take the lead. Gomes gave the ball away to Kamara, and seconds later Stones had to make a desperate sliding block from Kallman’s shot. The ball ran loose to Keskinen, who mishit his shot wide of the near post.
4 min Loads of early possession for England, which comes as no surprise. Trent Alexander-Arnold is almost playing as a left-back with a free role. Imagine if you’d pitched that idea to Jackie Charlton in the 1990s.
1 min Peep peep! England, in their dark raisin/sesame (sic) change strip, kick off from right to left as we watch. Finland have started with a back five, not the advertised 4-3-3. They literally lied on their Twitter feed.
𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐤𝐨𝐤𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐨 – 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐗𝐈 | Nations League: 🇫🇮 v. 🏴 | Huuhkajat tänään kolmen leijonan kimppuun! 🦉🔥
Päävalmentaja Markku Kanerva on nimennyt avauskokoonpanonsa klo 19.00 loppuunmyydyllä Olympiastadionilla alkavaan otteluun! Lähetys Yle TV2:ssa… pic.twitter.com/eWVuoa37Ln
— Huuhkajat (@Huuhkajat) October 13, 2024
As the players stroll onto the field, here’s a reminder of the two teams.
Finland (possible 4-3-3) Hradecky; Alho, Hoskonen, Ivanov, Uronen; Kamara, Schuller, Peltola; F Jensen, Kallman, Keskinen.
Substitutes: Joronen, Sinisalo, Galvez, Antman, Lod, Pukki, Stahl, Pikkarainen, Tenho, Nissila, Pohjanpalo, Walta.
England (possible 4-2-3-1) Henderson; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Alexander-Arnold; Gomes, Rice; Palmer, Bellingham, Grealish; Kane.
Substitutes: Pickford, Pope, Lewis, Foden, Gordon, Gallagher, Colwill, Livramento, Watkins, Solanke, Madueke.
Referee Giorgi Kruashvili (Georgia).
A bit of pre-match reading
Finland manager Markku Kanerva speaks to ITV
We want to give our fans a spectacular match. We know how tough it’s going to be but we’re ready to make a miracle. We have to defend well for 90+ minutes, be very solid and compact, and take care of the ball when we have it.
“Interesting quote from Carsley on wanting to try something different,” says Joe Pearson. “Is that a coded way of saying it was an object lesson to all those that thought Southgate was too stodgy and conservative?”
I’m not sure that’s how he works. I suspect it was more in the spirit of the England cricket team, testing the boundaries of what’s possible. That’s quite admirable because he’s smart enough to have known what was coming if it went wrong.
England’s Nations League campaign concludes in November with matches against Greece (A) and Ireland (H), then the speculation about Gareth Southgate’s successor will really begin. That’ll be fun.
Remember when
Lee Carsley speaks to ITV
It’s fair to say we fell below the levels that we expect. We can use it as a real positive now with a good response tonight.
[On Dean Henderson’s selection] It was always the case we we were gonna look at Dean in one of the games.
[On Trent Alexander-Arnold at left-back] His role will be a bit different to a conventional left-back. He’s very versatile and we’ve got a lot of confidence in him.
[On the reaction to Thursday’s defeat] I’m absolutely fine. It was something I was expecting – I wanted to try something different and I take full responsibility. If I had my time again I’d do exactly the same.
Jonathan Liew on England
For years the focus of England’s cultural development has been on how we can keep these guys happy, in an era where the rewards and prestige are ever more severely weighted towards club football. This was one of Gareth Southgate’s great achievements, and by the end even he seemed a little lost in the cosmos, desperately trying to keep the circus on the road, a cast of stars all convinced they were possessed of some unique main-character energy.
When it works, your stars step up at crucial moments to drag you to a major final you had no business being in. But the problem with this model is that effort becomes contingent on circumstances. Euro semi-final: fine. Uefa Nations League group B2 in October: good luck with that. Which is why a certain arrogance, a certain caprice, seems to have crept into the setup.
Poor bloke probably can’t wait to get back to the under-21s.
Team news: Carsley makes six changes
All change in the England team, with Lee Carsley reverting to a more familiar 4-2-3-1 formation. Harry Kane, Marc Guehi, Kyle Walker, Angel Gomes, Jack Grealish and Dean Henderson replace Phil Foden, Levi Colwill, Rico Lewis, Jordan Pickford, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka.
That means either Walker or, more likely, Trent Alexander-Arnold will start at left-back.
Finland have made five changes to the side that lost at home to Ireland on Thursday.
Finland (possible 4-3-3) Hradecky; Alho, Hoskonen, Ivanov, Uronen; Kamara, Schuller, Peltola; F Jensen, Kallman, Keskinen.
Substitutes: Joronen, Sinisalo, Galvez, Antman, Lod, Pukki, Stahl, Pikkarainen, Tenho, Nissila, Pohjanpalo, Walta.
England (possible 4-2-3-1) Henderson; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Alexander-Arnold; Gomes, Rice; Palmer, Bellingham, Grealish; Kane.
Substitutes: Pickford, Pope, Lewis, Foden, Gordon, Gallagher, Colwill, Livramento, Watkins, Solanke, Madueke.
Referee Giorgi Kruashvili (Georgia).
Preamble
The difference a game makes. There was plenty of goodwill towards Lee Carsley after his first window as England’s interim manager, with the BBC among those surmising that the job was his to lose. All that goodwill evaporated on Thursday night, when England were beaten by Greece after Carsley picked an, a-hem, experimental XI that inccluded five forwards and no striker.
Carsley was praised by many before the game for letting England’s hair down, then ridiculed after it for being a bald fraud. And while it’s almost entirely unfair, Carsley’s distinguished England coaching career will probably now be remembered for the night he gambled on a 4-1-5-0 formation.
“You want the public to trust and love the team,” said Carsley, “because the impact the national team has on the public is very inspiring. We know we can do a lot better. You have to respect people’s opinions and we didn’t perform as well as we can and I would expect a reaction against Finland.”
England will pick a more conventional team in Finland, with Harry Kane likely to return up front, and they yet could end the day on top of Group B2. That would require the Republic of Ireland to win in Greece but, as England know all too well, stranger things have happened.
Kick off 5pm.