It doesn’t happen often, but Roy Keane was pretty much left lost for words at England’s defending in their 2-1 defeat to Greece on Thursday.
The Three Lions fell to a dismal loss that puts their hopes of promotion back into League A in serious jeopardy, with a Vangelis Pavlidis brace either side of Jude Bellingham’s equaliser giving the Greeks a deserved first-ever win at Wembley.
Interim boss Lee Carsley fielded an experimental starting line-up in the absence of injured captain and record goalscorer Harry Kane.
Instead of starting either Ollie Watkins or Dominic Solanke, Carlsey instead opted to load 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 limped off through injury just after half-time and even then, Carsley brought fellow winger Noni Madueke on as his replacement, only finally introducing a striker in the 60th minute in the form of Watkins.
Despite all the creative quality on the pitch for England, it was Greece who looked most threatening throughout, with only VAR saving the Three Lions from further embarrassment with three disallowed goals.
Roy Keane blasts England defending vs Greece
The manner of England’s defending will worry supporters, with the likes of Jordan Pickford, John Stones, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Levi Colwill looking completely void of composure throughout.
Palmer and Saka were also among those called out as Keane went to town on England’s defending for the first Greece goal:
?? “Look at this! Five or six England players around him… My goodness – someone has got to put a tackle in!”
?? “If that happened in training you’d stop the session!”
Roy Keane analyses Greece’s opener ??#ITVFootball | #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/rQETtBNms4
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) October 10, 2024
It didn’t get any better from there, with Pavlidis’ second just as shambolic.
England must pick themselves up quickly as they travel to Finland on Sunday, knowing they cannot afford to drop further points if they wish to maintain hopes of topping the group and earning promotion.
As for Greece, they host the Republic of Ireland with the chance to further cement their place at the top of the standings.
Top photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
