October 11th 2024.
Thursday night at Wembley was a tough one for Lee Carsley, the interim boss of England's national football team. It was a surprise defeat against Greece, and former England striker Alan Shearer believes that Ollie Watkins, the Aston Villa striker, should be feeling quite upset with Carsley. This is because Carsley's experimental tactic, which saw England start with no out-and-out striker and five other attackers, did not work out well for them.
Watkins was expected to start in the absence of the injured Harry Kane, but instead, he only came on as a late substitute. Shearer feels that Watkins should have been given a chance to shine at Wembley, especially since he has been doing well at the club level. Instead, Carsley chose to try out a new system, which he had only practiced for 20 minutes the day before the match. As a result, England struggled to maintain possession and left themselves vulnerable to counterattacks.
Greece took advantage of England's weak and disorganized performance, with Vangelis Pavlidis scoring their second goal of the night in stoppage time. Just a few moments earlier, Jude Bellingham had managed to equalize for England, but it was not enough to secure a win. Looking back on the game, Shearer believes that Watkins should be demanding an explanation from Carsley on why he was not given a chance to play in Kane's absence.
Shearer expressed, "You'd be absolutely raging if you were Ollie Watkins. Your main man, your main centre forward, is injured and you've been waiting for an opportunity. And when you finally come on, you actually do a good job. Yet, when Kane is out and the manager tells you, 'I'm not going to play you tonight', it's frustrating. Especially at home against Greece, and he wants to try something different."
While Kane is expected to return to the starting lineup for England's next game against Finland, Carsley remains adamant that he will stick to his attacking principles, regardless of the outcome. He stated, "My position and my understanding of coaching is to attack. It's something that's important to me, and yes, with that, we may lose some games. But ultimately, I have found that this mentality leads to more wins than losses. It's disappointing, but it doesn't change my approach to the game."
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