The clash should have acted as a window into the future of England's attack, but a defeat leaves doubts over what they will do without their captain
The first England match that didn't involve either Gareth Southgate or Harry Kane for the best part of a decade, there was a transitional feel to the alarmingly attacking Three Lions team that interim manager Lee Carsley fielded to face Greece in the Nations League on Thursday night. Unfortunately, his experiment couldn't have gone much worse.
A shock 2-1 home defeat to a country that has been in the international wilderness for some time, this was a reality check for Carsley and a concerning vision of life without England's record goal-scorer – even if the stand-in coach fumbled his tactics on the night.
It was abundantly clear that a disjointed side were not equipped to be without their injured captain, as they lacked a focal point in a 4-2-2-2 formation with two false nines. Kane has his critics, but defeat to the unfancied Greeks should serve as a timely and resounding reminder of just how important he is to his country. England should not be too hasty to cast him aside.
GettyExaggerated demise
More than anything else, Thursday night was a timely reminder of just how good we've had it in the years since Harry Edward Kane made his senior international debut in March 2015, when he scored just 79 seconds after emerging from the bench against Lithuania.
Fast-forward nine years and 99 more caps, Kane is his county's captain and all-time record goal-scorer, having been an ever-present in what has been the most sustained period of relative success in the history of the men's England football team.
The striker's fairly subdued Euro 2024 campaign has undoubtedly resulted in some recency bias, with questions raised and column inches dedicated to whether he was still the man to lead the attack at the tournament and beyond. A lumbering Kane still scored three times in Germany – the joint-highest total – despite clearly being unfit after rushing back from a late-season back problem, having bagged an obscene 44 goals for Bayern Munich in 2023-24.
Back to full fitness, he has already responded to his many critics this season by striking 10 times at club level and twice more for his country in just 11 games, while he has six assists to boot. The first of his brace on his 100th cap against Finland reflected that he is still at the top of his game, wriggling away from two defenders before cracking an unstoppable strike in off the crossbar.
When it comes to Kane – a playmaker-cum-prolific striker – there is a sense that we as England fans will never truly appreciate what we had until it's gone – and that day is not too far off after the hitman turned 31 in the summer.
AdvertisementAFPMissed opportunity
Another minor injury setback provided interim England manager Carsley an opportunity to peek through a time warp into the post-Kane world when the Three Lions hosted Greece on Thursday – a favourable fixture that was ripe for some experimentation up top, with both Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke deservedly earning call-ups after starting the Premier League season well.
However, everyone was left baffled when the line-ups dropped as Carsley rolled the dice with a Garth Crooks' Team of the Week-esque XI in an attacking 4-2-2-2 shape – with no strikers in sight.
Watkins and Solanke were forced to watch on from the bench until the final half-hour as a side that had Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka AND Anthony Gordon shoehorned into it inevitably failed to gel, with Greece repeatedly exposing the space in behind a disjointed midfield as they claimed a famous 2-1 victory at Wembley.
This really should have been Watkins' chance to prove his worth (again) and give everyone a glimpse of what the post-Kane era might look like for England, but it was an opportunity that passed Carsley by.
AFP'It didn't come off'
If this was Carsley's idea of how England should shape up in the future, he won't have impressed his potential bosses. Indeed, he may well have fluffed his chances of landing the job on a permanent basis as he went against predecessor Gareth Southgate's more pragmatic footballing philosophy and threw all caution to the wind.
"I never at any point thought that I have got it cracked. It was a case of let's try something different and I'm happy to take blame for that. It was totally my idea," he said afterwards. "I thought about it long and hard, in terms how it might look, how it might build and how it might feel. It is something that didn't come off but I don't think we should rule out having that opportunity to try something different."
By his own admission, the plan was half-baked: "We tried something different and tried to overload the midfield. We tried it for 20 minutes yesterday [Wednesday], we experimented and we're disappointed it didn't come off. It's unrealistic to expect too much and we will have to try again. It's definitely an option going forward. It doesn't change anything. My remit is to do three camps."
Getty Images SportAttacking conundrum
So England still have a problem in attack, but it isn't in the No.9 position. Carsley – or whoever replaces Southgate permanently – must strike the right balance behind the centre-forward, whether that is Kane or someone else.
The debate over who should start out of Bellingham, Foden and Palmer will only intensify after this disjointed display from a group of players who are considered to be the future of England. The former is untouchable, as the Real Madrid dynamo came up clutch once again with the a late equaliser at Wembley, and the latter's incredible form for Chelsea means he is set to become un-droppable – which leaves Foden as the man fighting for his role.
Against Greece, the Man City star failed to register a single shot, create any chances or complete any dribbles – immediately standing out as the least impactful of the trio who are fighting for their place. It is now 15 months since his last goal or assist for his country.
In theory, Bellingham's goals and Palmer's consistent creativity mean England should be able to mitigate for Kane's absence in the long-term, whenever he does decide to step aside, but this was a reminder that the team needs a focal point.