Pep Guardiola has previously been angry when his Manchester City players have been called up to international duty when not fully fit, but Lee Carsley isn’t concerned about Jack Grealish
Jack Grealish has been called up for England’s Nations League double header – even though Pep Guardiola ruled him out until after the international break.
Manchester City star Grealish, 29, has missed his club’s last five games because of a groin injury and he was expected to miss England’s games with Greece and Republic of Ireland. But interim boss Lee Carsley says Grealish has resumed training this week and wants him involved in what have become make-or-break games for England.
Carsley insists he will “not take any risks” on Grealish as he admitted there are “four or five” injury doubts in his 26 man squad. But City boss Guardiola has made his feelings known in the past when his players have been injured on international duty, admitting he has never been “so angry” as when John Stones got hurt in a friendly last season.
Carsley said: “Jack’s been training at City for the last couple of days. So we’re hoping that we’ll assess him when he comes into camp. Jack is in the same position as maybe four or five other players that there’s question marks over whether they’re going to be involved or not. We try and give them as long as we can.
“We’ve got almost a standby list ready, that if we were to lose two or three players, that we’re capable of replacing them. And I think as well, I don’t think this is the time of year to be gambling, or taking chances with players. If there’s a risk that they’re not fit, we won’t take that chance.
“We definitely wouldn’t put a player at risk. We take the lead off the clubs. Really happy with the communication that we’ve had from them. We’ll assess it again on Sunday.”
Carsley’s preparations have been hit by injuries with Grealish’s City team mate John Stones ruled out, Harry Maguire is missing and Declan Rice could be a doubt with a broken toe. But Carsley also knows that he must win these two remaining fixtures – otherwise it could have serious consequences for England’s schedule next year.
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If England do not win their group they will go into a play-off in March next year, rather than arrange two friendlies to help new boss Thomas Tuchel. They could also have two end-of-season friendlies in the United States and six World Cup qualifiers next autumn.
Carsley added: “The importance of winning the group has been spelt out when we were talking about me doing the interim job. So it’s something we are definitely aware of. That’s why at this point of the season, it’s a great game for us.
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“It’s important that we get the results. You always have that in the back of your mind (the players’ fitness). But priority has got to be to win the Group, to go out to Greece and we all know what we need to do so that will be first and foremost.
“Your ideal scenario is in games that you are two or three up and you can make changes but I’m not sure that is going to be the case in these games. They are both strong teams so the importance is our strongest XI in two games…. that would be our priority.”
