Ahead of England’s Nations League match against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday, Irish Police have reportedly made the decision to cancel all leave.
The Three Lions are set to travel to Dublin for their first game under interim boss Lee Carsley, and additional security measures will be implemented due to fears that a large number of ticketless England fans will flood the city to enjoy the atmosphere.
According to reports from Ireland, ‘Operation Dearoil’ will be in effect from Friday until Sunday morning to manage the event, as nearly 12,000 England supporters applied for the 2,981 tickets allocated at the Aviva Stadium.
The Times reports that 350 specialist officers will be on duty alongside a team from the UK Football Policing Unit, with the police planning to ‘adopt a relatively passive approach to managing crowds’.
England will be missing Cole Palmer, Ollie Watkins and Phil Foden for the match, with the trio withdrawing from the squad on Tuesday. Palmer and Watkins joined the squad but returned to their clubs to “continue their rehabilitation from ongoing issues.
Foden, meanwhile, was forced to withdraw due to illness having only played 45 minutes for Manchester City so far this season. That means several players could make their England debuts against Ireland, with Carsley calling up Noni Madueke, Angel Gomes, Morgan Gibbs-White and Tino Livramento for the first time.”
Foden had to pull out due to illness after only playing 45 minutes for Manchester City this season.
Carsley expressed his satisfaction with the team’s attacking options, stating: “The amount of players we’ve got available to us in terms of their attributes and strengths, we’re really lucky in that department,” and “I wouldn’t say it’s easy, but it’s easier to be attacking when you’ve got a lot of attacking options.”
Reflecting on his playing days, he said: “The majority of my teams when I was playing were very defensive. When I started coaching, it was something I wanted to try and get away from. I’d played in teams where you were very well-organised and you sat in and every now and then you had the ball, and then you broke.”
He also shared his coaching philosophy: “But I was mindful as a coach of how I wanted the players to feel. I want our players to be on the ball, I want our team to attack. I want us to be expansive. Ultimately this is up there with the best jobs in football.”
Finally, he acknowledged the potential of the current squad: “We’ve potentially got a unique period of time, which will pass, where we’ve got some outstanding players, some really good talent, someone needs to get the absolute best out of them.”