A night of why? And a case for Howe
System overload. The moment it became clear on Thursday morning that Lee Carsley would experiment with a false 9 against Greece, keeping two real 9s on the bench, concerns were expressed by fans and by many in the media. It was a topic on phone-ins before the game, I was on the radio with Alan Brazil and Gabby Agbonlahor, two former strikers, and they were bemused by the prospect. In the Wembley press room beforehand, people were talking about it, questioning it, tweeting about the crazy plan to play all the stars and forget balance. It was Sven revisited at Euro 2004, shoehorning Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes into midfield, lacking balance. Playing all the stars rarely works. Greece had a system (as at Euro 2004) and players working hard in that system, even with training cancelled because they were understandably emotionally distraught after news of the death of George Baldock.
I asked Carsley afterwards whether he had explained his thinking to Ollie Watkins and Dom Solanke, proper No 9s, and he insisted they took his decision well. But they must have been frustrated at seeing all the No 10s starting and no No 9. The system failed badly to nobody’s great surprise. Declan Rice was isolated with so many No 10s further forward, Greece could counter-attack at will, and only the offside flags and a couple of sneaky shirt-pulls by Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka stopped the visitors punishing England more. England now move on from Hellas to Helsinki and, it is hoped, a more sensible system against the Finns.