Carsley hails England’s strength in depth as understudies sink Greece

ATHENS: Lee Carsley claimed England´s 3-0 win against Greece showed the strength in depth that awaits Thomas Tuchel when he takes over as coach.

England were hit by a rash of withdrawals before Thursday´s Nations League clash in Athens, but Carsley´s team made light of the star absences to keep alive their hopes of promotion to the tournament´s top tier.

Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Phil Foden were among nine players to pull out of England´s last two games of 2024 amid speculation they were encouraged by their club managers to miss the fixtures. England captain Harry Kane launched a scathing attack on the stay-aways, insisting international duty should come before anything else.

Kane was surprisingly dropped to the bench by interim boss Carsley after his uncharacteristic outburst, but England were unfazed. Kane´s replacement Ollie Watkins gave them an early lead before Greece goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos deflected Jude Bellingham´s shot into his own net.

Curtis Jones´ audacious back-flicked effort wrapped up a win that put England top of Nations League Group B2. They are guaranteed to win promotion to League A with a victory over Ireland at Wembley on Sunday.

But Carsley was more concerned with underlining the vast array of quality that former Bayern Munich boss Tuchel will inherit when he finally takes the reins on January 1. “It is just important the players play to their strengths. We have got a lot of outstanding talent,” Carsley said.

“The players who were not here, we concentrated on the ones that were. “We spoke yesterday about players getting an opportunity, and we have seen that tonight.

“People were speaking about the inexperience within the squad, but these players play week in and week out in the Premier League at a really high level.” After losing to Greece for the first time ever at Wembley in October, this was a sweet moment for Carsley, who was widely criticised for a tactical gamble that backfired in that game.

Chelsea winger Noni Madueke caught the eye in Athens with an assist for Watkins´ opener and several other incisive raids, while Jones and Anthony Gordon also impressed. Assessing England´s long-term prospects, Carsley was encouraged by the victory, which was his fourth in five games as caretaker boss since replacing Gareth Southgate, who quit following the Euro 2024 final loss to Spain.