A wrong turn for Lee Carsley but it is Ireland with more old habits to break
On a day when both Ireland and England were out to impress the new boss, it was two Irish old boys who inflicted all the damage in Dublin
Old habits die hard.
Lee Carsley strode out of the tunnel in the Aviva Stadium and turned right, seating himself in the home dugout.
It was, after all, a familiar route from his days as an Ireland international.
READ MORE: Lee Carsley in hilarious Ireland v England bench error ahead of Nations League clash
The 50-year-old was politely asked to move and he did so, shifting over a few seats. It took another prompt for the penny to drop that he was in the Ireland section and not England's.
But it was the only wrong turn the 50-year-old took on a day when he must have wondered what he had let himself in for by accepting the FA's invitation to manage England's senior team on an interim basis.
While the FAI insisted that Heimir Hallgrimsson was the man they always wanted to succeed Stephen Kenny, there's no doubt that had Carsley wanted the job then it was his.
Perhaps that sliding doors thought crossed his mind this morning when he discovered that he was on the front page of The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail.
His crime? Refusing to sing God Save The King, just as he never sang Amhrán na bhFiann when he was an Ireland player. And for that, one Daily Mail commentator hysterically crowed, he should immediately be stripped of his new post.
Madness, but that's the shark-infested water he finds himself swimming in now after doing such a good job of building up his coaching CV - culminating in his guidance of England's under-21s to European Championship glory.
Given the character of the man, there was no way Carsley was going to cave in and start singing like a canary once the visitors' anthem began. So it proved.
But he had been immediately put under pressure because of a lamentable non-story. He needed a result in Dublin.
That the anthems and then the early stages of the game took place in a febrile atmosphere - the home crowd lustily booed God Save The King - actually helped England, who had a full-kit prankster line up as part of the team ahead of the anthems.
Declan Rice and Jack Grealish were also loudly booed whenever they had possession and the back to back losing European Championship finalists understood that they needed to be on it against a team also working under a new boss.
Hallgrimsson certainly didn't need the result as much as Carsley did. England are ranked fourth in the world, Ireland are 58th, but the vast majority of the sell-out attendance had come seeking hope of a new way.
The former Iceland manager had, with Lars Lagerback, famously taken England's scalp at Euro 2016. But there was no instant miracle on offer here - nor could one be expected after five training sessions.
In fact, Ireland did start well. But for a slight deflection off Harry Maguire, the unmarked Jason Molumby would have headed the hosts ahead. Sammie Szmodics also had an early chance parried away by Jordan Pickford.
What was worrying, however, was how quickly it all fell apart. Hallgrimsson had promised a more practical approach from the Kenny days, a focus on getting Ireland's defence right and making the team more solid overall.
They were more direct, yes - but old habits die hard.
Ireland left themselves wide open after that bright beginning and that was manna from heaven for Rice.
The three-cap great Irish hope turned English midfield general dictated the play, scored his team's first goal and was then the architect of the second, playing give-and-gos with Kobbie Mainoo and Bukayo Saka before sliding the killer pass to Grealish, who delivered the perfect finish.
In fairness to Hallgrimsson, Ireland were better in the second half, more solid. Szmodics should have scored. The damage is done and England coasted in the final half hour.
Onto Greece on Tuesday. Hallgrimsson will want his team to learn new habits, and fast.
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