DEFIANT and selfless, Lee Carsley finally went on the front foot yesterday.
The England interim boss saw his team, without a recognised striker, crash to Greece at Wembley — before delivering his own muddled performance in front of the media after the embarrassing 2-1 defeat.
Yet here in Finland, Carsley spoke positively and insisted he was happy for the s**t to be flying in his direction rather than at the players.
It is clear he will put the team before himself and that’s why nobody should rule him out of replacing Gareth Southgate on a permanent basis.
Carsley was upset by the shock result and a dreadful defensive show against the Greeks.
But the Brummie is able to put it in perspective.
The 50-year-old’s son Connor has Down’s syndrome and, while he is happy to take criticism on board, he is not going to let it turn him off.
Carsley, who takes charge of England for the fourth time in Helsinki on Sunday, said: “I definitely have to accept the criticism.
“I am glad it was directed towards me, not the players, and we move on.
“The last thing that is important to me in this whole process is me.
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“The reason I believe I have done so well in coaching is because people know that it’s not about me.
“It’s about the players, it’s about the environment, it’s about the culture.
“It is something that I’m totally accepting of in terms of the changes I made the other night and trying something different. I’m not put off by that.
“I understand the interest and the criticism, which is fine.
“I wouldn’t describe it as a setback . . . Connor made a big difference to our lives in terms of having a child born with Down’s Syndrome, so that puts things into perspective.
“After the other night, I felt bad for a couple of days — of course I did.
“But it’s a game of football, I’m realistic about the understanding that it is a game. I have tried my best, it didn’t come off, I am here to fight again.
“Having watched the game back two or three times, as you can imagine, it’s never as bad or as good as you think.
“I would change the result. But it’s not put me off.
“I don’t want to sit back in a month’s time with regrets that I was safe. This is a great opportunity, not only for myself . . . for the rest of the staff and the players to try something different.”
Carsley did not help himself after the defeat by claiming he would “hopefully” be back with the Under-21s.
What he meant, as he said when being unveiled as interim manager, was he would look to get his old job back if he did not get this one permanently.
When pressed on his comment again, he said last night: “Hopefully is a word and a phrase I use quite a bit. There are no guarantees in life.
“It’s a job, the Under-21s, that I’m really proud of and massively invested in.
“The plan is to give this job for three camps the best I can do along with the rest of the staff and, hopefully, we can be in a good position.”
He must make sure he does not get flustered quite so quickly in future. Equally, we should not forget that even in the caretaker days of Southgate, not everything went to plan.
In his second game, England scraped a 0-0 with Slovenia — Joe Hart making a brilliant late save to prevent a defeat.
Southgate suffered fierce criticism afterwards and was always prepared to take the flak.
Carsley left Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke out of his starting line-up even though star striker Harry Kane was injured and fielded a glut of attacking midfielders with Jude Bellingham as a false nine.
I have tried to remove myself from the emotion of, ‘It’s my job to lose or get’.
Lee Carsley
Carsley added: “I spoke with Ollie after I had named the team. I didn’t speak to Dom but I have spoken to Dom. I have got a good relationship with Dom. He can understand we were trying something different.
“They all could see that. With the personalities they have got, they are very much team orientated, as opposed to selfish.
“If I try something different, they can see I’m trying to get the best out of the team or the individual rather than myself.”
On whether he feared defeats to average opposition could impact his chances of the job, Carsley replied: “I wouldn’t say that. That would be reckless.
“There’s probably a reason why I have not got into senior football, managing at club level, because I enjoy the player development and the journey they go on.
“I have tried to remove myself from the emotion of, ‘It’s my job to lose or get’. It was totally clear when I came in, the remit.
“That’s what I have tried to do to the best of my ability, with the understanding I want to try something different at times.
“It is good I have the trust of the staff we have got.”
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.
