Only once lost to a lower FIFA ranked nation since 2010 – Carsley’s England unraveled by Greece

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1st defeat under Carsley 

England have a plethora of attacking talent right now. A young generation that includes the likes of Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, and Anthony Gordon. As well as older talents such as Harry Kane, Jack Grealish and Ollie Watkins. Between those eight players they have a combined market value of €840 million. Many fans have been calling for the Three Lions to take the shackles off and get as many of those talents in the team as possible. And that’s exactly what interim manager Lee Carsley did in England’s Nations League match against Greece, but at what price?

With Kane injured, Carsley picked a front five including all of Palmer, Foden, Bellingham, Saka and Gordon. Alongside two ball playing full-backs in Rico Lewis and Trent Alexander-Arnold, it looked like an exciting selection on paper. However, the imbalance of that starting XI would soon be illustrated, as the 48th ranked FIFA nation tore through England time and time again and recorded a famous 2-1 victory at Wembley. Before the match it had looked like Carsley was somewhat of a shoo-in to get the job permanently. After a disastrous night in London, he now seems unlikely to get the role on a full-time basis.

Experimentative line-up could cost Lee Carsley 

After the match, a depleted Carsley said in his press conference; “Hopefully I’ll be going back to the U21s”. Words that echoed what a costly night it had been for England and himself. Carsely came across as a man who was resigned to missing out on the job. Perhaps, after seeing first-hand the backlash of an England defeat for the first time, he now doesn’t even want it. Previously Carsley had recorded back-to-back 2-0 wins against the Republic of Ireland and Finland, with the Three Lions dominating both matches. He really threw caution to the wind on Thursday night, something his predecessor Gareth Southgate was often criticised for not doing. And it certainly didn’t pan out how the interim boss would have hoped. 

With Declan Rice trying to protect a defence all by himself, he and England were overran time and time again. Without a deep midfielder beside him to build up play, the Three Lions failed to generate authority on the game. Greece had the ball in the net five times across the game, albeit three of the goals were disallowed for offside. But this should not be happening giving the disparity between quality in the respective line-ups. Any narratives generated that England may be better off without their captain Kane have also gone very quite after a damaging evening at Wembley without him.

England go to Finland on Monday night for their fourth Nations League fixture, but one would now expect that it may be Carsley’s last hurrah in the dugout. England have a current squad market value of €1.46 billion, over seven times more than Greece’s €175.8m. Thomas Tuchel, Eddie Howe and Graham Potter appear to now be the current favourites for the job, but the FA (Football Association) will have a busy couple of months ahead in the search for the next permanent boss. Carsley may still have a chance but his reputation has taken a serious hit.

England’s second worst defeat since 2010

When looking at England’s worst defeats in recent times based on the FIFA world rankings, it puts into perspective the severity of the Three Lions loss to Greece. As illustrated in the graphic below, only in England’s 1-0 loss to Iceland (ranked 72nd) before last summer’s Euros, have they lost to a team with a lower FIFA ranking than Greece (48th) last night since 2010. Only five times in the last 14 years have England lost to a nation ranked 40th or lower.

It seems crazy that one game can be so pivotal in a manager’s future. But the jury was still out on Carsley before the game and Thursday’s capitulation has left serious damage. It was the first time England had ever lost to Greece in their entire history. Before Thursday night, seven wins and two draws. Had it been a victory where the Greeks had hit England on the counter and defended well it could have perhaps been partially excused, but they very much deserved the win and were the better, more dangerous side throughout on England’s turf.