Good managers make strong decisions, making sure the team balance is right, not simply weakly, meekly accommodating all the talents.
It took Lee Carsley an hour to get the balance right, abandoning his inevitably doomed experiment of trying to get all his No.10s on the field at once. It was naïve by an interim auditioning for the manager’s role.
Carsley suffered his first loss as interim England boss
This was a disastrous night for Carsley. His team were deservedly beaten by a Greek side who paid tribute to their late team-mate George Baldock with a gutsy performance. His tactics were shown up as guileless.
Starting with a false 9 was always going to be a risk by Carsley. It was not a role that brought the best out of Jude Bellingham; he’s better threatening from deeper, as it proved when he gave England brief hope with a late equaliser before Greece struck again.
It was risky in terms of the psychological impact it would have on two real No.9s, Ollie Watkins and Dominik Solanke. England carried a real threat only when they came on, and both were involved in Bellingham’s goal. Both strikers must have thought when Harry Kane again failed to train that one would have a chance of starting.
But no. Carsley tried to be clever – or tried to appease his stars. It was an opportunity to work on the Kane Succession for when England’s record goalscorer eventually retires internationally. Kane’s still only 31 but the understudies need assessing.
Bellingham being Bellingham worked hard in attack and almost scored after two minutes. Surrounded by blue shirts, Bellingham used his strength and control to cut in from the left but his firm shot was pushed over by Odysseas Vlachodimos. Greece tried to crowd Bellingham out, and Konstantinos Koulierakis was rightly booked for a nasty lunge at the Real Madrid man’s right ankle.
Carsley’s system carried faint echoes of his successful Under-21s when he had Anthony Gordon and Morgan Gibbs-White as false 9s in the 2023 European Championship final against Spain. But he had no forwards in Batumi. He had Watkins and Solanke here. It was a bizarre decision. The FA top brass looking down from the smart seats here at Wembley must have wondered what on earth was going on.
Bellingham played highest up the field and was supported by Phil Foden, who struggled to impose his talent for 36 minutes until a brief sparkling break. Cole Palmer, slightly deeper, playing more as an 8, had more of an impact. The man wearing 8, Bellingham turned his marker, and cut the ball back to Palmer, who shot over.
Good managers react. Carsley should have addressed the mess at the break but dithered. Greece had all the balance England lacked and deservedly took the lead within four minutes of the restart.
Vangelis Pavlidis scored and continued the tributes to George Baldock, the Greece international who has passed away. Pavlidis removed his black armband and pointed to it. He then ran to the Greek bench with his team-mates and they held up a Greece shirt with Baldock No 2 on it. Applause swept around Wembley, and swathes of England fans joined in.
Greece were doing the memory of Baldock proud. England had the stars but Greece had the system that glittered. They looked so much better organised than England at a time when they must have been distracted and emotionally distraught.
Carsley’s first change was to personnel not to system. Bukayo Saka limped off, but Carsley didn’t turn to Watkins yet. He sent on Noni Madueke and stuck with the same system that wasn’t working.
Finally, on the hour, Carsley relented, acknowledged the experiment hadn’t worked. Watkins came on for Gordon, Madueke went left, Palmer right and within a minute Palmer sent Watkins through and the Aston Villa striker shot over. But at least England now had an outlet, a threat.
Foden’s subdued evening’s work ended and Solanke raced on for only his second cap, and first in seven years. England were almost 4-4-2 with Solanke just off Watkins.
England struggled to fashion many chances in front of goal
They managed to equalise when a long move saw the ball flying between John Stones, Watkins, Solanke, Palmer and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who swept a pass down the inside-right channel. Watkins cut the ball back for the unmarked Bellingham to arrive from the deep and equalise from the edge of the area.
But England didn’t deserve anything from the game. Pavlidis made it 2-1 four minutes into added time, wrecking Carsley’s night further and definitely damaging his credentials for the England job.
