England 1-2 Greece: Five things learned as Three Lions’ experimental system ends in tragedy | OneFootball

Interim England manager Lee Carsley’s bid for the permanent role faced a setback as England suffered a 1-2 loss to Greece at Wembley this evening.

Both nations entered tonight’s match with a perfect record, but only Greece can claim to have achieved three consecutive UEFA Nations League wins, positioning the Euro 2004 winners strongly for promotion to League A.

Ivan Jovanović’s team now leads League B Group 2 by three points ahead of their rivals. They were thankful to Vangelis Pavlidis, who scored a goal on either side of Jude Bellingham’s wonder strike.

“We were second best for a lot of tonight. It’s disappointing. We are going to get setbacks and it’s important we respond vs Finland,” Carsley said post-match.

“We tried something different and play differently. We tried it for 20 minutes yesterday and it’s disappointing it didn’t come off.

“It’s a case of trying again. With the quality we have, all the goals were from mistakes. Even at 1-1 we were quite fortunate at that point.

“It’s an option [the system]. When you have someone of Kane’s quality, it rules it out. We tried something and in the future we need that courage to try. We tried something different.”

As the dust settles, here are five things we’ve learned from this match.

1. No Kane, Problem

A knock sustained while on Bundesliga duty ruled Harry Kane out of tonight’s contest, giving England a rare opportunity to see what a side without their record goalscorer would resemble. Carsley would field an experimental ‘striker-less’ lineup, with Cole Palmer performing a deeper midfield role than usual. Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon positioned on the flanks, with Jude Bellingham as the most attacking player, frequently switching positions with ‘number ten’ Phil Foden and Palmer.

England seldom utilised their wingers effectively without a focal point, resulting in a disjointed attack that relied on individual moments rather than careful build-up, which was Palmer’s intended role. If Kane passes a late fitness test, we can expect his return to the lineup, or at the very least, either Dominic Solanke or Ollie Watkins will lead the line against Finland in the next match.

2. The importance of balance

One consequence of playing an uber-attacking team is the vulnerability to counter-attacks. Declan Rice, the more defensive-minded player among England’s front six, would be responsible for thwarting such movements. But whenever the hosts did lose possession, the Greeks often bypassed Carsley’s midfield and bared down on Jordan Pickford’s goal. In one incredible first-half moment, Levil Cowill made a spectacular goal-line clearance to bail out his goalkeeper.

The warning signs were there, but England failed to heed them. Greece grew in confidence — while the Everton shot-stopper kept being prone to making individual errors — and could have scored more goals. VAR came to England’s rescue on multiple occasions. Carsley deserves credit for acknowledging the issue and somewhat admitting he got his initial tactics wrong. However, it was too little, too late, despite Bellingham’s late equaliser that could have salvaged a point.

3. Vangelis Pavlidis on point

For Eredivisie fans, Vangelis Pavlidis is a familiar name. He scored 29 goals in 34 appearances for AZ last season, which led to a summer transfer to Benfica. Although he hasn’t made a big impact in Lisbon yet, tonight he made Wembley feel like home.

His efforts resulted in the seventh and eighth goals scored while he was playing for Greece. It was an emotional and historic night as Greece achieved a well-deserved first win against England, shortly after learning about the passing of their former international teammate, George Baldock.

“We gave everything for him and his family. It was special because of him. Difficult moment for us as he was part of the team. Special guy. We said we have to play for him. We gave everything for him,” he told ITV Sport afterwards.

4. Everything still runs through Bellingham

If anyone were to get England back into the game after falling behind, it would be their Real Madrid lynchpin, who seemingly had the license to maraud in the final third. In a short period, Bellingham has achieved a near-talismanic figure for both club and country, but, as mentioned earlier, it can be detrimental as it often makes England’s attack seem a little disjointed.

His effort three minutes from time was nothing we haven’t seen before; the ball finds him on the edge of the area and the following effort from a distance proved too much for Odysseas Vlachodimos. Bellingham won five of his attempted six take-ons while creating two chances and having three shots on goal. Of the non-defenders, only Palmer (71) attempted more passes than him (53).

5. What to do with Foden?

It has been a strange start to the 2024/25 season for Phil Foden. He ended last season as the unanimous choice for the best player in the Premier League. So far, he has made four appearances out of seven in England’s top division with the reigning champions Manchester City, but he has yet to complete a full 90 minutes. He started tonight’s game but was substituted with 18 minutes remaining.

Despite being known for his impactful dribbling, he had minimal impact, with only 32 touches overall and no attempted take-ons. Additionally, he did not take any shots or create any chances. Foden’s concern will be how England could set up a team in his absence, with Palmer being a strong candidate for the deep-lying forward role he usually enjoys.

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