England have endured the first hiccup of Lee Carsley’s stint in interim charge.
Greece, placed 44 places below their hosts in FIFA’s rankings, secured their first ever win over the English after Vangelis Pavlidis’s goal in added time in this Nations League group game ensured it ended a fitting tribute to the Greece international George Baldock, who passed away earlier this week.
For Carsley, there was plenty to ponder. The head coach had briefly seen Jude Bellingham — who else? — haul the home side level, but even a draw would have felt fortuitous on a night when the home side’s tactical tweaks failed to pay off and their performance was horribly disjointed for long periods.
The interim had used the absence of Harry Kane as an opportunity to experiment with an attack-minded lineup and Bellingham nominally as a false No 9, but his team were imbalanced and created little. Indeed, it was the visitors who created the game’s clearer opportunities throughout and always posed a threat on the counter. Aside from Pavlidis’ opening goal, the first ever scored by Greece at Wembley, they had three others ruled out for offside before the striker conjured his winner.
There was a fragility to England all evening. Levi Colwill did wonderfully well to clear a first-half effort from Tasos Bakasetas off the goal-line after Jordan Pickford’s error, while captain John Stones also summoned a block to deny Bakasetas. Yet the Greeks finally led early in the second half. With England panicked, Pavlidis wriggled away from Cole Palmer, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Stones and Declan Rice to fizz a low shot into the net.
Palmer and Anthony Gordon spurned the hosts’ clearest chances but, even with natural strikers introduced, they offered little until Bellingham’s emphatic late strike. Yet even that proved a mirage.
Jack Pitt-Brooke, Tim Spiers and Anantaajith Raghuraman dissect the main talking points at Wembley.
What did Carsley learn?
This was Carsley’s third game in charge of England, his first defeat, and he will have learned some painful lessons from it.
With no Kane, rather than choosing a conventional replacement, Carsley went for a radical strikerless system with Bellingham up front. It was brave but it did not work and now he will face the very English accusation that he tried to be “too clever”. Only when Ollie Watkins came on did England have any sort of conventional threat.
England interim manager on the touchline (Michael Regan – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
Carsley also dispensed with a midfielder to sit alongside Rice, preferring to pack the team with creative talent; another bold call, but one that allowed Greece to counter straight through England every single time.
On another day England would have conceded four or five goals.
There was merit to Carsley’s experimentation, even if tonight provided no solution to the problem of fitting in all his creative players. But he will also know that every England manager is judged on results, rather than thought processes. And Carsley will feel the sting of that on Friday morning.
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Did the initial formation work?
In short, no.
Carsley’s selection was daring and likely satisfied fans who have long called for England to showcase all of their creative talent. However, it came at the cost of balance with too many players occupying similar areas of the pitch.
Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden were hardly involved at all, while Bellingham popped up in different positions without really impacting the play barring a great swivel-and-pass for Palmer, who skied the chance over the bar. The Chelsea forward showed glimpses of his Chelsea self with some neat touches and lay-offs, but no real goal threat.
The use of Bellingham as a false No 9 did not work (Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Gordon was arguably the most impactful of the forwards, heading over from England’s next best chance of the half following an Alexander-Arnold cross-field pass and slipping Bellingham in during the build-up to Palmer’s chance. However, on more than one occasion, he turned back with the ball instead of taking his man on due to the absence of men in the box and Greece’s organisational discipline.
Alexander-Arnold and left-back Rico Lewis were England’s most impressive players going forward in the first half and their best avenue for chances seemed to be balls over the top.
When Greece played through England’s press, they also had plenty of space in midfield ahead of an unconvincing back line, resulting in good chances that weren’t taken until Pavlidis’ second-half strike.
Carsley’s response was to bring on Watkins for Gordon around the hour mark…
Anantaajith Raghuraman
And what about the rejig?
Watkins’ arrival, along with Madueke for the injured Bukayo Saka, saw England shift to a 4-3-3, with Bellingham and Foden operating behind the trio and Palmer shifting to the right wing. Watkins almost had an immediate say on proceedings after being found by Palmer, but his shot flew just over the bar.
England’s shape-shifting was followed by a period of Greek dominance as chances flowed for the visitors with the hosts creating nothing of note apart from a few deflected crosses and cleared corners. A second roll of the dice from Carsley followed as Dominic Solanke replaced Foden, which saw England effectively move to a 4-4-2, having started with their most creative formation in years.
The gaps in midfield remained, though, with Greece breaking forward at pace to send Christos Tzolis through on goal twice only to be stopped first by the offside flag (following an off-target chip) and then by a recovering Colwill. England’s toothlessness in attack only seemed to be bettered by its porous defence in the 83rd minute when Pavlidis converted from a cutback following an interception of Pickford’s poor throw upfield, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
And then, the unlikely England goal arrived.
A neat passing move saw England slip Solanke in behind the Greek defence on the right and while his cutback initially missed all the England players in the box, Bellingham arrived late to score with a curled effort that found the net via Odysseas Vlachodimos’ outstretched hand. It amounted to nothing, however, as more defensive indecision in the box allowed Pavlidis to score on the turn.
Overall, the changes flattered to deceive initially but Watkins drew defenders towards him while Solanke grabbed an assist. The changed structure also offered minimal midfield protection, however, and England’s defence didn’t cover itself in glory either.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Was Jordan Pickford having one of those nights?
Greece had attacking intentions and caused England numerous problems, but a better side would have punished England even earlier for some inept early defending, not least from Pickford who took leave of his senses during two mad first-half minutes.
A fairly innocuous ball over the top which Stones probably had under control was met instead by a rampaging Pickford, who then completely froze 25 yards from his own goal and clanged the ball straight to Bakasetas. His goalbound shot was magnificently and acrobatically cleared off the line by Colwill.
Bakasetas chips Pickford only for Colwill to spare the goalkeeper’s blushes (Robin Jones/Getty Images)
From the resulting corner Pickford haplessly flailed at the aerial ball and West Ham’s Konstantinos Mavropanos headed into an empty net, before being flagged offside. Pickford has seldom let England down of late, but this was him at his erratic worst.
England’s defending was generally fairly ropey. It was a numbers game if anything — they stacked the side with more No 10s than an Italian model agency and whenever Greece ventured forward with four or five attackers they had space to exploit.
There was no issue with the number of players back for Greece’s goal, but Alexander-Arnold, Stones and Palmer didn’t fancy attempting to challenge Pavlidis whose shot flew through Colwill’s legs. You could argue Pickford might have saved that, too.
There were numerous let-offs after Greece’s opening goal, too, with two more goals ruled out for offside, the latter coming from a Pickford throw to Palmer which was intercepted before they swarmed into the box and Pavlidis beat Pickford again. It was indicative of a haphazard defensive display — one of the ugliest England have produced at Wembley in recent years.
England saved the worst until last. Greece’s 93rd minute winner was buffoonery personified, with several players failing to clear the ball, not least Lewis who stood still with the ball at his feet in his own box after Colwill had let the ball bounce off him, then both players fell over as Pavlidis struck. It was almost comical and VAR couldn’t save them this time.
Tim Spiers
What happened to Bukayo Saka?
Arsenal fans will once again be bemoaning international breaks. The Gunners lost Martin Odegaard to injury when the midfielder was playing for Norway last month and, here, Buyako Saka worryingly limped off early in the second half.
Saka appeared to get his ankle caught when tracking back at one point in the first half. Then, early in the second, he limped away after an England attack broke down, then sat on the turf after Greece’s goal, clearly unable to continue.
He hobbled off gingerly to be replaced by Noni Madueke and there will now be a nervy wait to discover the extent of the problem.
A disconsolate Saka is consoled by Gordon (Eddie Keogh – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
Lee Carsley will hope it’s nothing serious and that Saka is available for Sunday’s trip to Finland, whereas Arsenal play Bournemouth next weekend but, more importantly, have a top-of-the-table clash with Liverpool on the horizon at the end of October.
Saka’s injury may also reopen the debate about player welfare at the top level for a player who has already made 236 club appearances and earned 43 England caps by the age of 23.
Tim Spiers
How was the passing of George Baldock marked?
There was a sombre moment just before kick off as both teams — and the whole stadium — paid tribute to Greece international George Baldock, who passed away this week at the age of 31.
The away team emerged with a white Greece home shirt sporting ‘BALDOCK 2’ on the back with which they posed together, remembering their former team-mate. Baldock, who was born in England but qualified for Greece through his grandmother, was capped 12 times. The last of those appearances came in March in the playoff defeat to Georgia that denied the Greeks passage to Euro 2024.
The Greece team hold Baldock’s shirt prior to kick off (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
Then, with the stadium’s big screens showing a photo of Baldock, the England players applauded on the edge of the centre circle while the Greece team stood arm-in-arm. Following announcements in English and in Greek, the whole stadium then held still in silence — a minute’s respect that was perfectly observed by everyone here.
There was even a Greece flag with a Sheffield United badge held up amongst the England fans, one of many perfect tributes paid to the former MK Dons, Sheffield United and Panathinaikos defender.
Wembley pays tribute to Baldock (Michael Regan – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
Those continued during the game itself, with Pavlidis holding up a black armband as he celebrated giving the visitors their second-half lead. His team-mates gathered to lift the same ‘BALDOCK 2’ shirt to the heavens, ensuring the full-back would not be forgotten.
Jack Pitt-Brooke
GO DEEPER
George Baldock – the Steel City’s adopted son – epitomised the Sheffield United fairytale
What did Lee Carsley say?
We will bring you the England interim manager’s assessment after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for England?
Sunday, October 13: Finland (A), Nations League, 5pm BST, 12pm ET
England travel to Helsinki having beaten Markku Kanerva’s side 2-0 at Wembley last month. Kane marked his 100th cap that night with a brace, taking his goal tally for his country to 68.
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(Top photo: GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
