Lee Carsley receives severe Aston Villa and Tottenham backlash after England 1-2 Greece
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An experimental Three Lions side were beaten by Greece at Wembley Stadium for the first time in history on Thursday night as several of Carsley’s tactical flaws were exposed.
The interim England boss raised eyebrows when the team selection was announced as Jude Bellingham was named as a false nine. Harry Kane’s absence meant Carsley had to source a replacement but he ignored both Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke, instead opting for a rather unbalanced midfield.
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Hide AdBellingham netted what he thought was an 87th-minute equaliser for England after Vangelis Pavlidis’ opener just after half time, but Pavlidis scored again deep in second-half stoppage time to secure a famous UEFA Nations League victory for the visitors.
Not many would argue it wasn’t a deserved result as Greece matched England’s attacking output without, all while having less of the ball. And it turns out - as per a report from talkSPORT - that the Three Lions only practiced Carsley’s new system for 20 minutes during a training session.
With that in mind, many fans took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) post-match to belittle Carsley’s team selection, pointing to Watkins and Solanke as the obvious solutions.
- @amit_mavar wrote: “Carsley has fumbled himself out of the England job. What sort of stupid team is this, and you leave Solanke and Watkins - your recognised centre-forwards - on the bench.”
- @castlefieldjon said: “Greece deserved it more than England. The arrogance of Lee Carsley is to blame. Why did Watkins not start? Hurry up and appoint a manager England, the clock is ticking.”
- @GillsInTheBlood posted: “That was s**t. If I’m Ollie Watkins or Dominic Solanke I’m absolutely raging. Both in former, scoring goals and Lee Carsley decides to be all hipster. No focal point, no fluidity, too many players wanting to play in the same spaces.”
- @Trevorlloyd92 waded in: “He’s picked that team purely to get Foden, Bellingham and Palmer in the 11. If Solanke - and especially Watkins - can’t start when Kane is injured, then they might as well go back to their clubs.”
- @GJohnson2022 added: “Not playing Watkins or Solanke is the reason Lee Carsley isn’t the answer.”
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