Carsley succumbs to England's noise in a chaotic defeat to Greece that dashes a manager's hopes

Interim England coach Lee Carsley fielded a starting XI against Greece that quickly went from very exciting to very disjointed.

It is fair to say that Carsley took Greece for granted and embraced his own country England The team would claim a comfortable Wembley victory on Thursday evening. Declan Rice essentially played alone in midfield while the Three Lions' best attacking talent was forced into a highly attacking starting XI, inspiring that special urge in those who couldn't wait.

As well as finding a role for Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon in a team without Harry Kane, Carsley also started Trent Alexander-Arnold and Rico Lewis at full-back. Very attacking. Very wrong. Very open.

Their presence contributed to a very disjointed press and a form, if one can even call it that, against which Greece rejoiced and was able to expose.

Carsley's side was a big topic of conversation ahead of the Nations League clash and will be a big topic of conversation leading up to Sunday's game against Finland. He was definitely a bit overconfident and had to pay for the fact that he really couldn't show any weaknesses in his bid to become Gareth Southgate's long-term successor.

The inclusion of Palmer, Foden, Bellingham, Saka and Gordon may have proven to us that Carsley was full of enthusiasm for Euro 2024 and probably has a Twitter burner account. Bellingham was used as the highest central player and Palmer was a little deeper to support Rice, which didn't work. He is a player who belongs in the final third.

Bellingham, playing through the middle in place of Kane, eventually allowed England to go behind, but raised a pretty important question: why didn't Ollie Watkins start? The only logical explanation is that Carsley wanted to bow to the noise.

Going fully on the offensive without a recognized striker was a real paradox. Sure, there was no Kane, but it wasn't as if there weren't any orthodox nines.

When he chose this formation – including two very attacking full-backs – without having a real striker, it quickly seemed bizarre and you just knew that Watkins was sitting on the bench and was pretty pissed.

What was even more worrying was that there was a lack of creativity and Saka was completely uninvolved. Gordon was more involved but far from it as he missed a great header chance in the first half.

The first 45 minutes were difficult to watch but at least England didn't concede a goal despite playing their best with Rice, John Stones and Levi Colwill exposed on the counter-attack.

Greece's first chance came after Jude Bellingham was knocked down high up the pitch and it quickly became clear that Carsley's positioning would result in England conceding numerous chances. Moments later, Jordan Pickford had a brain fart and was saved by an outstanding Colwill free throw from the line. We didn't expect to see Pickford's mea culpa against Greece, let alone in the 10th minute.

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Pickford became completely nervous after the resulting corner and conceded to West Ham's Konstantinos Mavropanos, but was saved by the linesman's flag. It was a shocking season for the Everton man, who was one of Southgate's most reliable players during his tenure.

There was a lack of creativity with three tens on the pitch but Lee Dixon, who said England “didn't create anything” in the first half, was harsh. Sure, they could have been more creative, but England still should have scored. Palmer missed a passer past Lamparding in the box to keep out a cutback from Bellingham running from behind, something Carsley clearly wanted to bring about.

It was all a bit Spursy. Lots of desire to attack and equally worrying defense. And despite this intention, England had fewer chances than Greece and appeared much more passive.

Perhaps there was a lack of defensive shape and disjointed pressing, but that wasn't for lack of trying. There were plenty of attempts out of possession, with Gordon, Foden and Bellingham working very hard to put pressure on the Greek defense. They didn't reap the rewards and when Alexander-Arnold and Lewis stood close together on the left wing as they tried to activate a press, it became clear how chaotic it was.

Greece's first ever goal at Wembley came when Vangelis Pavlidis broke through the England 'defence', which consisted of a fish out of water in Palmer, a reluctant tackler in Alexander-Arnold and an easily beaten Stones.

After the opening goal, we entered territory where Carsley was definitely screwed. If the score stayed the same he did it, if England equalized he did it, and if they won it only happened after he had done it.

His attempts to make amends led to a change in system with the use of a classic 4-4-2. We have to admit it was fun going from no striker to two with Watkins and Dominic Solanke.

Greece actually had the ball in the net four times before the eventual winners, but had three goals ruled out for offside, although this had a negative impact when Bellingham scored the late equaliser.

Watkins' retreat accidentally dribbles towards Bellingham on the edge of the penalty area and Newcastle United's £20m goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos can only direct the Real Madrid star's shot into the top corner.

A draw was never going to be good enough early in the game and England recognized this by allowing Greece's fifth goal. Pavlidis scored for the third time and there was no offside this time, meaning Carsley received the defeat based on his tactics and his team selection deserved.

Giving in to the call to force all of England's attacking talent into the starting XI ultimately proved to be the wrong decision and ruined his chances of getting the full-time job. Maybe Gareth Southgate knew what he was doing all along.

Worst of all? Michael Owen was right.