Greece 0 England 3: Three Lions run riot in Athens to take control of group as Curtis Jones nets debut goal
NO permanent manager, no captain in the starting line-up and precious few senior players bothering to turn up.
And yet it was no sweat for England to regain control of their Nations League group and gain revenge for last month’s Wembley embarrassment.
Ollie Watkins got England off the mark[/caption]
Odysseas Vlachodimos scored an unfortunate own-goal off the back of his leg[/caption]
Curtis Jones marked his debut in style with a stunning goal[/caption]
It was a night when interim boss Lee Carsley placed his trust in several of his own Under-21 European champions – and gave Thomas Tuchel plenty of food for thought.
Why Tuchel wasn’t in the dug-out heaven alone knows, and why he wasn’t in the Greek capital to watch is also a mystery.
But while the German enjoys his sabbatical, Carsley enjoyed the best night of his brief reign – just when the cards all seemed stacked against him.
He made a major call in starting skipper Harry Kane on the bench, then watched his replacement Ollie Watkins bag an early opener before an own goal from keeper Odysseas Valshodimos and a sweet strike from debutant Curtis Jones earned a convincing victory.
And all this after a dozen members of his squad were ruled out through injuries, genuine or otherwise.
That third goal created by Morgan Gibbs-White and finished by Liverpool midfielder Jones had Carsley’s signature stamped all over it.
And another member of Carsley’s triumphant Under-21s from last year – Noni Madueke – was the best player on the pitch, creating Watkins’s opener with pace and intelligence.
A few weeks ago, we were wondering whether ‘Carsball’ was England’s answer. Now that it’s been discarded, we started wondering again.
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England need only to beat Ireland at Wembley on Sunday to win the group and secure promotion to the Nations League top tier.
And Tuchel now has plenty of choices to make between Gareth Southgate’s old guard and Carsley’s young thrusters.
Kane had netted 86 per cent of the goals scored by this entire England squad – 68 from a total of 79 – so it was certainly a bold call from Carsley to bench him.
And this had looked like probably the weakest starting XI England had fielded for a competitive fixture in living memory.
Facing Greece seems to bring out the unconventional in England’s interim manager.
Carsley appeared to lose his Elgin marbles with the tactical brainstorm which led to last month’s embarrassing 2-1 home defeat against the same opposition.
On that night, Kane was injured and Carsley played without an authentic centre-forward – here he simply preferred the pace of Watkins to the nous and class of Kane.
And within seven minutes, his boldness was rewarded with an excellent team goal.
Madueke was the architect, first with a back-heel which took out left-back Kostas Tsimikas, then after he’d collected a return pass from Jude Bellingham, the Chelsea man reached the byeline and cut back with his right foot for Watkins to slot home.
Carsley had fielded a front three blessed with express pace and Anthony Gordon was also causing bother for the Greeks early on, cutting inside and having a powerful shot deflected wide for a corner.
German ref Daniel Siebert – a convicted match-fixer – got busy, booking Bellingham and Conor Gallagher in quick succession then handing Jordan Pickford the first yellow card of his England career for wasting an extraordinarily short amount of time at a goal-kick.
This was the first sell-out for an international football match at the 70,000-capacity Olympic Stadium but a crowd which had started off in good voice was being lulled by the composed control exerted by this patchwork England side.
Finally, the Greeks began to threaten and, after a rapid break down the left, Tsimikas had a fierce shot beaten away by Pickford at his near post.
There was plenty of neat midfield play from Bellingham and Gallagher but England were less of a menace as the first half progressed – although, in injury-time, Rico Lewis released Watkins, who lost his footing when he’d looked a good bet to score.
Ezri Konsa was limping heavily at the end of the half and was replaced at half-time by debutant Lewis Hall – Walker switching to central defence and Lewis moving to right-back.
England were soon back on the front foot with Madueke full of devilment.
The Chelsea winger toasted Tsimikas and cut back for Lewis to have a shot blocked by keeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.
Then after the resulting corner, Madueke centred for Bellingham to head against the back stick.
Greece retained a threat, though, and when Gallagher lost possession, Fotos Ionnidis forced a decent save from Pickford.
Carsley then withdrew his front three, introducing Kane, Jarrord Bowen and debutant Morgan Rogers. Madueke’s withdrawal was a strange decision, as he had shown little sign of easing up.
Still, Kane soon had a long-ranger saved by Vlachodimos and then Rogers played a key role in England’s second goal.
The Villa man played a cool pass on the turn to release Bellingham, who charged forward and pinged a shot against the inside of the post which cannoned in off the prone Greek keeper, crossing the line before Gallagher could claim a touch.
The third was a peach – a nutmeg pass from Bowen, a cut-back from Gibbs-White and a cute finish from Jones with a flick of his heel.
Suddenly, it felt as if Carsball wasn’t too bad at all.
