Lee Carsley downhearted after dismal England defeat to Greece in UEFA Nations League - 'We were second best'
ByOli Gent
Updated 10/10/2024 at 22:56 GMT+1
England interim manager Lee Carsley admitted his side were "second best" for large parts of their 2-1 UEFA Nations League defeat to Greece at Wembley Stadium. Vangelis Pavlidis was the two-goal hero for the visitors, who recorded a first-ever victory over the Three Lions. The hosts thought they had snatched a late equaliser thanks to Jude Bellingham's 87th-minute strike.
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England interim manager Lee Carsley admitted his side were "second best" for most of their 2-1 UEFA Nations League defeat to Greece.
Carsley named an experimental side at Wembley that featured Jude Bellingham as a false nine, while Cole Palmer was in a deeper midfield berth alongside Declan Rice and Phil Foden.
Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka flanked Bellingham, but Saka was forced off with an injury that will worry Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
Greece sliced through the England defence on multiple occasions, and deservedly went ahead when Vangelis Pavlidis wriggled through a crowd of bodies in the penalty box to slot past Jordan Pickford.
Bellingham's side-footed effort was palmed into the back of the net by Odysseas Vlachodimos in the 87th minute as the hosts thought they'd snuck a late equaliser, but Pavlidis made the most of some kamikaze defending from England to slam home a second deep into second-half stoppage time and give Greece their first ever victory over England.
Carsley spoke of his disappointment at the result, but insisted that it did not impact the "remit" he had been given as interim manager.
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Lee Carsley looks on as England lose to Greece in the Nations League
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"We were second best for a lot of tonight, it is disappointing," Carsley told ITV.
"You are going to get setbacks, and it's important we respond. We tried something different and tried to overload the midfield. We tried it for 20 minutes yesterday, we experimented, and. We were disappointed it didn't come off. It's unrealistic to expect too much, and we will have to try again. All the goals were from mistakes, which is disappointing.
"It is definitely an option going forward. When you have someone of Kane's quality though, it rules it out when he is available. But in the future you have to have the courage and ability to try things.
"We tried something different. It doesn't change anything. My remit is to do the three camps."
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John Stones, who captained England on Thursday night, could not hide his dissatisfaction.
“I think [the best team won]," the Manchester City defender said.
"On a personal note, I’m gutted. First time with the armband and to have a result like this is hard to put into words. I [had] every emotion yesterday and today. We prepared how we do, and it didn’t come off. It’s a shame that it was on a night like this. We’ve got to give credit to them.
"From the start, they put us right under pressure; we found it difficult to come out from the back, play our normal football, break the lines. They were very compact. Disappointing from us as well.
"We worked on [the new system]. It’s something that we know as players. As Lee said to us, when we’re out there we’ve got to deliver. We’ve got to put the onus on ourselves and do the business, and we didn’t create enough clear-cut chances or get enough second balls.
"We were quite spread from set pieces today and a lot of counter-attacks that I’m not happy with. It’s a difficult night. A lot was riding on it for me personally, and for the lads, we saw it as a great opportunity to top the group. It’s not happened; we’ve got to look back on this game and move forward.”
England will need to pick themselves up quickly, with a game against Finland in Helsinki on Sunday.
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