A BAFFLED Roy Keane has savaged England’s approach during their dismal loss to Greece.
The ITV pundit hit out Three Lions players for ignoring “the basics” in Thursday’s disastrous 2-1 defeat at Wembley.
Roy Keane has torn into England’s players after a 2-1 loss to Greece[/caption]
Interim boss Lee Carsley played an experimental system in the defeat[/caption]
Jude Bellingham equalised late on for the Three Lions, only for a stoppage-time winner from the visitors[/caption]
"Freedom is the new garlic bread" – Roy Keane 🥖😂#ITVFootball | #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/y7uC5bqi7I
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) October 10, 2024
England slumped to a first competitive loss at the Home of Football in almost four years.
An inspired Greece – driven by the tragic loss of George Baldock earlier this week – had the ball in the net FIVE times, with three ruled out for offside.
It came after interim boss Lee Carsley opted for an experimental False 9 system.
Carsley’s under-cooked side could muster just one shot on target in 88 minutes before Jude Bellingham’s late leveller.
Vangelis Pavlidis netted a deserved winner for Greece in stoppage time, prompting Keane to tear into the Three Lions.
The ex-Man Utd midfielder said on ITV: “We go back to the basics of the game.
“The words over the last month or so with England have been freedom, style, attacking football.
“Freedom is the new buzzword, obviously. It’s the new garlic bread.
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“But you still have to do the basics of football. You have to defend properly. And you have to have urgency.”
Both of Pavlidis’ goals came in the second half and looked preventable, with a number of England defenders surrounding him in the box.
But the Benfica striker was still able to get his shot away on both occasions.
The lack of bite in defence “summed up England’s night,” according to Keane.
Watching footage of the first goal, he continued: “Look at this! Five or six England players around [Pavlidis].
“You’ve got nobody actually doing their job properly.
“How can this happen? My goodness. Someone has to put a tackle in.”
Keane was stunned that no England player could block either of Vangelis Pavlidis’ goals[/caption]
England player ratings vs Greece
By Tom Barclay
LEE CARSLEY’S tactical experiment of playing no strikers backfired as Vangelis Pavlidis’ double secured an emotional shock win for Greece at Wembley.
Interim England boss Carsley played all three of our nation’s gifted No10s – Phil Foden, Jue Bellingham and Cole Palmer – in varying positions.
But it did not work and the Greeks took a deserved lead thanks to Pavlidis’ belting second-half finish.
The visitors then held up a shirt in celebration bearing the name Baldock – in reference to their team-mate George Baldock, whose passing at the age of just 31 on Wednesday rocked the world of football.
Bellingham looked to have ensured the points were shared with a thunderous strike with three minutes to go.
But there was still time for Pavlidis to expose some woeful defending deep into injury time by firing past Jordan Pickford.
Here are SunSport’s player ratings from a dire night for England under the arch.
Jordan Pickford: 4
Wandered into no-man’s-land territory outside his box early on and lost the ball, allowing Greek skipper Tasos Baksetas a free shot at goal – only to be saved by Levi Colwill’s last-gasp clearance. Did not instil confidence, despite his experience.
Trent Alexander-Arnold: 6
Some tasty passes – they are his speciality, after all – but not great at the back. He, John Stones and Cole Palmer were weak in their attempt to close down Vangelis Pavlidis before the Benfica man smashed home the opener.
John Stones: 5
Made captain for what was his 82nd cap, surpassing Rio Ferdinand’s haul. But it was a shaky display from his defence and Stones should have done better to stop Pavlidis.
Levi Colwill: 7
Greece would have been ahead far sooner were it not for Colwill’s athletic hack away to deny Bakasetas. Replays showed it would have crossed the line had the Chelsea man been a split second later with his incredible intervention.
Rico Lewis: 6
Tried to bomb up the left flank where he could but, just like Kieran Trippier at the Euros, was hamstrung by constantly having to cut back onto his favoured right foot.
Declan Rice: 6
Played as England’s only holding midfielder, as fans had been imploring Gareth Southgate to use him for years. It was not like he was overrun but his side did look vulnerable on the counter.
Phil Foden: 4
Spent most of the game pressing the Greek backline as a false nine without really getting on the ball and causing any damage. Ineffective.
Cole Palmer: 6
Deployed in a deeper, central-midfield role which at least meant he saw plenty of the ball, though he blazed England’s best chance of the first half over the bar. Remarkably, his first competitive England start, despite being named on Tuesday as Three Lions player of the 2023-24 season.
Bukayo Saka: 5
Struggled to get into the game and then was forced out of it, worryingly limping off early in the second half. The last thing Arsenal fans wanted to see.
Jude Bellingham: 7 STAR MAN
Played in a false nine position and had a belting early shot well saved. The system did not work but Bellingham still so nearly emerged as the saviour by banging in his first goal of the season for club and country.
Anthony Gordon: 5
Caused Greece few problems and his touch looked off it. Had a decent chance from Alexander-Arnold’s peach of a delivery but headed over.
SUBS:
Noni Madueke (for Saka 52): Played out on the left, rather than his natural right, when coming on. Went down in the box deep into injury time but no penalty was given. 6
Ollie Watkins (for Gordon 60): Almost scored with his first touch when played through by Palmer, but smashed just over. 7
Dominic Solanke (for Foden 72): Grabbed an assist when laying the ball back to Bellingham who thumped in the leveller. 7
Manager Lee Carsley: 4
Seemed to gamble unnecessarily with this experimental system instead of playing it safe to add another win to boost his case to earn the job full-time. Carsley played without a natural centre-forward when winning the Under-21 Euros because he had to after Flo Balogun switched the USA and Rhian Brewster got injured, but here he did it by choice and it did not work. Bellingham looked to have saved his bacon – but then Pavlidis struck again.
Following Thursday’s loss, interim boss Carsley admitted the experimental approach had only been worked on for “20 minutes.”
He told ITV: “I think we were probably second best for a lot of tonight. It’s disappointing.
“I just spoke about there, we’re going to get setbacks – it’s important now that we respond well against Finland.
“We tried something different. We tried to overload the midfield and play a little bit differently.
“It’s something that we tried for 20 minutes yesterday. It’s something we experimented with, it was disappointing that it didn’t come off.
“But I think it was unrealistic to expect too much and it’s a case of trying again.”
