Lee Carsley has admitted his experiment with England’s formation ‘didn’t come off’ after a disappointing defeat to Greece in the Nations League.
Carsley selected an adventurous side that did not contain a recognised centre-forward at Wembley, though the Three Lions struggled to impose themselves on the game.
Vangelis Pavlidis scored both goals for Greece, including a 94th-minute winner, as the visitors secured their first-ever win over England at the 10th attempt.
It was a first defeat to Carsley as interim manager and huge setback for England in their hopes of returning to the top tier of the Nations League.
The 50-year-old admitted his side were ‘second best’ on a poor night for the Three Lions.
“I didn’t think we started the game great. I thought that we were second best a lot of times,” Carsley said at his pre-match press conference.
“We tried something different with the formation and the areas of the pitch we tried to get into. We never really gave ourselves a chance to see if it was the right decision or wrong.
“Obviously looking at the result and the game panned out it was a challenging night for us.
“Greece played well. I thought they were highly motivated as you would expect and were second best tonight.”
Carsley opened up on his decision not to select a centre-forward, despite the presence of Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke on the bench. Jude Bellingham was tasked with being England’s most advanced player, as Carsley sought to squeeze the Real Madrid midfielder, Bukayo Saka, Anthony Gordon, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer into the same side.
Palmer played in a deeper midfield role and looked short of his club performances for Chelsea, while Declan Rice was regularly exposed at the base of the midfield.
Carsley said he had been keen to try something ‘courageous’ but admits the experiment failed.
“With the players we have got, we have to be courageous at times with our systems and be creative. I could have quite easily gone with a recognised nine. We had two on the bench. But I thought it was important to try something different.
“I think at this stage as well coming of the last two games, 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 about, in terms how it might look, how it might build and how it might feel. It is something that didn’t come off tonight but I don’t think we should rule out having that opportunity to try something different.”
