England’s interim manager Lee Carsley gambled with his team selection – and potentially his future – when he rolled the dice against Greece at Wembley. He walked away empty-handed and embarrassed.
Carsley could have been forgiven for playing it safe, with his credentials to succeed Gareth Southgate on a permanent basis bolstered by two wins from two in the Uefa Nations League.
Instead, straddling that fine line between being brave and being foolhardy, Carsley decided to throw it all up in the air with an attacking game-plan that looked thrilling on paper. Perhaps it should have stayed exactly there. It looked an ill-judged, flying by the seat of the pants, piece of management from the first moments of a humiliating 2-1 loss to Greece.
Carsley’s response to the absence of injured captain Harry Kane was to dispense with a recognised striker when he could have used either Dominic Solanke or Ollie Watkins, choosing instead to and pack his side with the attacking talents of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka.
The result of Carsley’s experimentation was an unseemly shambles, a confused tactical mess that was desperate defensively, with Greece having the ball in England’s net five times only to see three ruled out for offside. Two from Vangelis Pavlidis counted, condemning them to defeat.
England’s heavily front-loaded team could only muster two shots on target, one in the third minute from Bellingham and the other his equaliser three minutes from time, even then Carsley’s team were unable to hang on for a point they barely deserved when Pavlidis scored the winner deep into added time.
What this means for Carsley, who looked to be moving unhindered to his coronation as Southgate’s successor, remains to be seen. But make no mistake: this was a serious mis-step, and he accepted full responsibility for the shapeless fiasco that unfolded at Wembley.
He even caused confusion post-match when he said “hopefully” he’d be returning to the under-21s, but, when pressed, he insisted “nothing had changed” and he was not ruling himself in or out of the job.
It appeared to be a verbal slip, and that he was trying to say he would be comfortable returning to his old position if that was what the Football Association wanted. It was an unsatisfactory, muddled conclusion to an eminently forgettable night for Carsley.
Greece were able to muster 12 shots, with three on target, an illustration of their constant threat as a result of England’s tactical open invitation to steam through midfield and down the flanks with numbers on the counter-attack.
It was Greece’s first win at Wembley in 10 attempts. Pavlidis’ opener was their first goal at Wembley, this victory making them the lowest-ranked side (48th) to beat England in a competitive match since Northern Ireland (116th) in September 2005 and the lowest on record to do so on home soil.
And it was no more than they, or indeed England, deserved.
There was an element of Carsley giving the public what they wanted with this potential thrill-ride of a teamsheet. They did not want it by the final whistle, judging by thousands of empty seats and the resounding boos.
Carsley’s courage in attempting it was commendable but from the first whistle it was exposed as folly.
The general feeling was that this was Carsley’s England job to lose, the Football Association preferring another graduation from the Under-21 production line that delivered Southgate, one also used to great effect by countries such as Spain, with coach Luis de la Fuente taking that same path to success with the seniors at Euro 2024.
This may not be the night Carsley lost the England job but the shoddy show that so disappointed Wembley will do nothing to help him win it.
Carsley, in the aftermath, made it clear he has never taken it for granted that the role would be his, even appearing to suggest he would be glad to have a job to return to with the Under-21s.
“I was quite surprised after the last camp [that there was talk] in terms of ‘the job is mine’ and ‘it’s mine to lose’ and all the rest of it,” he said.
“My remit has been clear from the start – I’m doing three camps. There are three games left and then hopefully I’ll be going back to the Under-21s. It has almost no impact.”
Carsley added: “I never at any point thought that I have got it cracked. It was a case of let’s try something different and I’m happy to take blame for that. It was totally my idea.
“I thought about it long and hard, in terms how it might look, how it might build and how it might feel. It is something that didn’t come off but I don’t think we should rule out having that opportunity to try something different.”
He added: “We tried something different and tried to overload the midfield. We tried it for 20 minutes yesterday [Wednesday], we experimented and we’re disappointed it didn’t come off. It’s unrealistic to expect too much and we will have to try again. It’s definitely an option going forward.
“We tried something different. It doesn’t change anything. My remit is to do three camps.”
If there was a system, it almost impossible to detect what it was.
The confusion at the heart of Carsley’s approach was exemplified by the fact that England started the night with no striker and yet ended with two, Solanke and Watkins hurled into the fray as the unmistakeable whiff of desperation gathered around this abysmal display.
“Release the handbrake” was the cry for much of Southgate’s reign – on this night, the doors fell off and the engine exploded.
Jude Bellingham was in the false nine role but too often there were too many bodies around, with Phil Foden struggling to find any room to operate, while Cole Palmer could not make any impact in a deeper role to which he looked completely ill-suited. Gordon and Saka were ineffective on the flanks.
It left Declan Rice running around outnumbered trying to plug gaps, England’s vulnerable defence wide open time after time as possession was turned over, Greece scenting their chance.
The signs were bad from the opening minute when Bellingham was robbed, Greece broke and Pavlidis should have done much better than curl a shot wide. He was to make up for it later.
It all made for a night of confusion, from England’s chaotic game plan to Carsley’s messaging about his future in his current post.
England and Carsley will at least have the chance to deliver something approaching clarity when they travel to Helsinki to face Finland on Sunday.
Carsley’s ill-fated gamble means the stakes have just got higher. He is unlike to play such a high-risk game again any time soon.