Carsley expects England to improve after winning Under-21 EUROs opener | OneFootball

England Under-21 head coach Lee Carsley says he expects his side to “keep improving” after starting their European Championship campaign with a 3-1 win over Czechia.

Goals from Harvey Elliott, Jonathan Rowe and Charlie Cresswell sent the Young Lions on their way to victory to kick off their U21 UEFA EURO Finals title defence in style.

Carsley’s side now sit second in Group D behind Germany on goal difference, after they beat Slovenia 3-0, and the former Everton midfielder was pleased with how his team performed, but expects their levels to keep rising.

“Our expectations are always to do well,” said Carsley. “We’ve always had good games against Czechia, who are a good team with a good coach. We’ve struggled against them at times in terms of their physicality and organisation. I’ve got a lot of respect for them.

“The realisation is that that’s the first time that team’s played together. Some of them are in different positions, so our expectation was not to put too much pressure on the players and that, at times, it would look a bit scruffy.

“I definitely expect us to keep improving, the longer we can stay in the tournament. We went a bit longer too quickly but, like I say, it’s the first time that team’s played together, so they should take a lot of credit – not only the players who started the game, but also those who came on.

“The next two days are very important in terms of our recovery and preparation for the Slovenia game. There’s definitely no way we’ll be overlooking Slovenia, because we’ve seen a lot of them and they’re a good, well organised team. We look forward to the game.”

The Young Lions will face Slovenia on Sunday looking to make it two wins from two before a clash between Germany next Wednesday.