Lee Carsley admitted his tactical gamble backfired as England crashed to a shock 2-1 defeat against emotional Greece in the Nations League on Thursday.
Vangelis Pavlidis’s second half strike put Greece ahead at Wembley just 24 hours after the death of team-mate George Baldock.
Jude Bellingham looked to have spared Carsley’s blushes with a late equaliser, but Pavlidis struck again in stoppage-time to hand the England interim manager the first defeat of his reign.
Baldock, who joined Greek side Panathinaikos from Sheffield United earlier this year, was given a fitting tribute by his team’s dynamic victory.
The English-born Greece international drowned in his swimming pool at home in Athens this week.
England were booed off at the final whistle, signalling the end of Carsley’s honeymoon period after victories over Ireland and Finland in his first games in charge in September.
Carsley had earned plaudits for his attacking game-plan in those matches, which stood in stark contrast to his ultra-cautious predecessor Gareth Southgate.
But he went a step too far against Greece, deploying an unusual line-up featuring no recognised striker as he opted to pack the team with five attacking midfielders.
With England captain Harry Kane sidelined by the injury he suffered playing for Bayern Munich last weekend, Carsley ignored the claims of Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke.
Bellingham and Phil Foden, both used to playing deeper for England, were the nominal strikers, with Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon on the flanks and Cole Palmer taking up a central midfield role instead of the number 10 position in which he thrives for Chelsea.
But England never adapted to the system and were constantly unhinged by Greece counter-attacks with only Declan Rice acting as a defensive midfielder.
In attack, Foden and Bellingham often got in the way of each other and England mustered just one shot on target in the first 75 minutes.
“We tried something different and tried to overload the midfield. We tried it for 20 minutes yesterday, we experimented, and I’m disappointed it didn’t come off,” Carsley said.
“With the quality of players we’ve got, that’s the challenge, to get them all on the pitch.
“I thought it was a creative way to play. But we were second best for a lot of tonight. You are going to get set-backs and it’s important we respond.”
England sit second in Nations League B2 group, three points behind Greece, with Carsley facing accusations of tactical naivety and now in need of a victory in Finland on Sunday to reignite his hopes of taking charge of the Three Lions on a permanent basis.
Appearing to suggest he would not be upset if he didn’t get the job, Carsley said: “It doesn’t change anything. My remit is there are three games left and hopefully I’ll be going back to the Under-21s.”
When it was put to him that he seemed to be ruling himself out, Carsley backtracked, saying: “This is one of the best jobs in the world because you have a chance to win. I won’t rule myself in or out.”
England’s wasteful finishing came back to haunt them in the 49th minute when Pavlidis took Giorgos Masouras’s pass, deftly wriggled past four defenders in the area and planted a fine finish into the far corner from 12 yards.
In a touching tribute to their former team-mate, Pavlidis held up his black armband as he ran to the Greece fans, while several of his team-mates displayed a shirt with Baldock’s name and number.
Carsley’s no-striker experiment ended after 60 minutes when he sent on Watkins for Gordon and moved Bellingham into midfield, while Foden was replaced to make way for Solanke.
Bellingham looked to have saved England in the 87th minute as he lashed home after Solanke’s cutback reached him on the edge of the area.
But an alarming evening for Carsley reached a fitting conclusion in stoppage-time when Pavlidis drilled low past Jordan Pickford after Colwill and Rico Lewis made a hash of clearing the danger.
