It doesn’t happen often, but Roy Keane was left almost speechless by England’s defense in their 2-1 defeat by Greece on Thursday.
The Three Lions fell to a disappointing loss that puts their promotion hopes in the A League in serious jeopardy, with a Vangelis Pavlidis brace either side of Jude Bellingham’s equalizer giving the Greeks a deserved lead victory at Wembley.
Caretaker boss Lee Carsley fielded an experimental starting line-up in the absence of injured captain and record goalscorer Harry Kane.
Instead of starting Ollie Watkins or Dominic Solanke, Carlsey opted to load up the midfield, with Declan Rice, Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka all starting in a 4-2-2-2 formation .
The latter limps due to injury Just after the break and even then, Carsley brought on fellow winger Noni Madueke as a substitute, eventually introducing a striker in the 60th minute in the form of Watkins.
For all the creative quality in England’s midfield, it was Greece who looked more threatening throughout, with only VAR saving the Three Lions from further embarrassment with three goals disallowed.
Roy Keane attacks England defending against Greece
The way England defend will worry supporters, with the likes of Jordan Pickford, John Stones, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Levi Colwill looking completely without composure.
Palmer and Saka were also among those called up when Keane went to town in England’s defense for Greece’s opener:
?? “Look at that! Five or six England players around him… God, someone’s got to put in a tackle!”
?? “If this happened in training, you would stop the session!”
Roy Keane analyzes Greece’s first goal ??#ITVFootball | #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/rQETtBNms4
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) October 10, 2024
Nothing got better from there The second of Pavlidis just as scandalous.
England must bounce back quickly as they travel to Finland on Sunday, knowing they cannot afford to drop any more points if they are to keep their hopes of topping the group and securing promotion alive.
As for Greece, they host the Republic of Ireland with the possibility of further consolidating their place at the top of the table.
Top photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
