Sign up for Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter delivered straight to your inbox for free
Sign up for Miguel K. Delaney’s free weekly newsletter
Sign up for Miguel K. Delaney’s free weekly newsletter
A failed experiment, which will undoubtedly make one consider for the first time whether it should be said lee carsleyinterim England The manager himself said that he would not describe his tactical approach to this first senior defeat in that way, only that it was worth trying. Then he actually refused to confirm that he wanted the job, but talked about it so much that he started tying himself in knots.
There was even an unfortunate mistake where he said he “hoped” he would return to the Under-21s, but that was of course only on the condition that he would not get the senior job. The investigation accompanying the latter was perhaps reaching him for the first time. There were moments when his explanations seemed as confusing as his creation. Greece, in contrast, had such a clear focus. Their 2–1 win was even worse as the brilliant Vangelis Pavlidis scored both of his own goals to show Carlesley the importance of forwards on a night when they had taken the historic step of going without scoring a single goal.
A line going from Dixie Dean to Harry Kane was broken for a false nine, which would bring a false morning instead.
Another little twist that night was this Jude Bellingham Scored the only goal for England, but that came when he was moved from a forward position to the back after a formation clearly failed. There’s no doubt that Carsley was doing his own thing – how else to describe this approach? – but he still seemed as if he was appealing to popular sentiment by having all his stars on the same side. bellingham led Which included a strange team Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka.
“It was a case of, ‘Let’s try something different’,” Carsley later explained. “I am happy to take the blame for this. This was completely my idea. I thought about it for a long time, what it might look like, how it might feel. It probably didn’t come tonight…it certainly didn’t, but I don’t think we missed an opportunity to do something different.”
However, there was still one familiar issue. Perhaps this is where the formation is more of a concern, especially as Carsley later clarified that he had actually only worked on it for 20 minutes. It was a good idea for the manager to try this approach once, and where better than just taking a competitive exam. League of Nations The game where you’ve already won twice. Mind, England could probably have made do with more forgiving opponents than Greece. The visitors were ready for it, and clearly emotionally charged. On the sad passing of former international George BaldockBefore getting into the tactical and technical discussion, it is worth recognizing how touching it was that the Greek players were reduced to tears while celebrating Pavlidis’ goal.
However, those attacks didn’t just come from the formation. They come from something that has been a more worrying characteristic of Carlesley’s team, and that is perhaps where more focus should be placed. That’s a hole through the center. Ireland and Finland both created chances in early wins and Greece did much more than that here. “The expectation is that we are a big team who will beat Greece easily at Wembley,” Carsey said. “You have to keep in mind that the opposition is highly motivated and will try to stop you.”
Instead they were passing through England with such ease that it caused panic in the defence, with adept defenders lying on the ground and desperately trying to kick the ball. “I thought all the goals were bad,” Carsley said of his players’ mistakes. Much was made of the fact that both of Pavlidis’s goals looked exactly the same, although both were crowned with classic striker finishes.
This was remarkable, especially for a team and manager who care about tactical control. Nevertheless, Jordan Pickford set the tone by coming on to deliver the ball almost immediately before flicking over a corner. The goalkeeper was saved by Levi Colville’s early clearance and then an offside flag. However, Greece kept coming. They felt that something was wrong.
This was because England’s stars were far from it. Although it wasn’t all about formation, it’s impossible not to focus on it.
It got so extreme, there was such a lack of checks or balances in England that it was hard to wonder whether it was one of the Jose Mourinho line-ups that was part of the political point. Will anyone ever ask Carsley about playing with the All-Star Attackers again?
we’ll probably. It would only take a dull half-time for the brouhaha to begin, and even this performance should be cautioned with the fact that it was just a game and these players were only in one approach, 20 minutes of work. After. Carsley actually said it was an option to try again in the future. He also explained: “I thought it was a creative way to try to play… bring some of our attacking players on the pitch, just to see what it would look like.”
With some long-obvious problems, it wasn’t looking great. Foden and Bellingham came into each other’s way again, in circumstances that looked like a repeat of the summer. That was despite Bellingham playing a different role to the False Nine. It was perhaps no surprise that he found his target when he was taken to the rear.
Meanwhile, Palmer may be one of the most tactically versatile players in England due to his technique and game intelligence, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a waste to insert him in this midfield role. This brought out the most distinctive element of England’s performance. He was a big gap in the center of the pitch and often between the attackers.
After years when Southgate teams were criticized for not having enough creativity, Carsley went too far in the other direction. His team was demanding more orders from Southgate.
Carsley eventually introduced it, and it was ironic – and perhaps somewhat logical – that one of England’s most elaborate formations ever came actually closer to the traditional 4–4–2.
However, that defensive hole still remains. Greece had one goal-line clearance, the early Pavlidis goal, and three goals were disallowed. It was all building to something, and it wasn’t Carsley’s interference in making the work his own.
Instead, Greece was going to make the night their own. By the 93rd minute, the same issues surfaced, as the same forward scored the goal. It was in no way less than worthy of Greece. This will raise the first big question of whether Carsley should get a job that looks like it was his to take.