Curtis Jones’ exquisite backheel caps England’s comprehensive victory in Greece

The brief interregnum of Lee Carsley has not been without mishap, although in Athens so the odyssey delivered him from the mistakes of his past and a triumph that means life will be a little simpler for his successor Thomas Tuchel.
First the Nations League – then the world. England now have only to beat the Republic of Ireland on Sunday to be promoted back to the top tier of the Uefa competition as the winners of their group. A relatively small step forward but, should England win at Wembley, there will be no March play-off for the new England manager. As for Carsley, he can depart the caretaker role having in part vanquished the nightmare of defeat by Greece last month.
There was another roll of the dice from Carsley, who seemed committed to making the kind of big decisions that can damage a manager. This time he left out England captain, and all-time leading goalscorer, Harry Kane and when his replacement Ollie Watkins scored on seven minutes, one suspected this might be the manager’s night. There was a debut for Curtis Jones, who started the game and scored the third, as well as first caps for the substitutes Lewis Hall and Morgan Rogers.
It was a young team in much of its composition, with Rico Lewis playing both full-back positions over the course of the night and Noni Madueke and Anthony Gordon impressive on the wings. England had to survive another robust Greece performance in the second half, but his boys came good for Carsley – and his substitutions changed the game anew.
Rogers would play a crucial role in England’s second, directed into his own net by Greece goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos. Morgan Gibbs-White came off the bench to create the third for Jones. Perhaps this was a glimpse of the kind of future that Tuchel has ahead of him, but it was not always straightforward. Jordan Pickford had to make two fine saves.
There were moments of inspiration from Jude Bellingham for the first two goals. The team came through for Carsley.The requirement was to beat Greece by a greater margin than the single goal by which the Greeks had won at Wembley and get back to the top of the group. Stay there and it means Tuchel will fulfil the October prophecy of the FA chief executive Mark Bullingham that the German will only coach World Cup qualifiers. Tuchel left Carsley to piece together a side from the various withdrawals of Premier League clubs who did not seem to feel their players should turn up if the new manager was not coming either.
Yet Carsley negotiated a way through and despite some of the usual Premier League grumbling, he seized it as a chance to launch his generation of players. Jones, Madueke, Gordon and Gibbs-White were all under-21 European champions with Carsley last year. Bellingham would have been were it not for his precocity. “It’s good for Jude to see the quality that is underneath him coming through,” Carsley said.
These players are certainly, in Carsley’s eyes, no B-team. Indeed, they are the players who gave him the greatest triumph of his coaching career. Every successful nation needed to win at under-21 level first, Carsley said. “There is a generation of under-21s players who are just used to winning tournaments, be it the World Cup or the Euros. When they put on an England shirt they expect to win.”
It is an interesting prospect that the next generation will come hard on the heels of the last, who are by no means at the end either. The likes of Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Declan Rice were not in Athens, but their understudies did enough to suggest that the Gareth Southgate generation was not a one-off phenomenon. There will be bigger tests. Also, the competition is becoming fierce.
The Kane question is one that Tuchel will have to wrestle with. The 31-year-old is by no means nearing the end, certainly not with an incoming England manager who championed his signing at Bayern Munich, yet this was arguably a taste of what a different future might look like for a fixture of the England team over the past decade.
The return on selecting Watkins was immediate – a goal on seven minutes at the end of a thrilling move down Greece’s embattled right side. Watkins was the right man in the right place to make the angle for Madueke to pass. A glance over the shoulder from Bellingham as he drifted out to the right with his back to goal and he saw the run of Madueke. His cross for Watkins was perfect.
That’s why Ollie Watkins is in the team! ⚽️#ITVFootball | #NationsLeague | @AVFCOfficial | @England pic.twitter.com/GtJgbPHpnz
Madueke and Gordon overwhelmed their full-backs at times in the first half, the former up against Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas. This was likely closer to what Carsley had tried to do in the game against Greece at Wembley, and this time it made more sense. Jones looked comfortable in midfield with Conor Gallagher, who had to ride an early booking.
German referee Daniel Siebert got a taste for the cards and there was a first-ever England booking for Pickford, unexpectedly for time-wasting. Kyle Walker got another. The officials could do nothing about the laser pens aimed at the eyes of the visiting players from the crowd. Pickford made a fine first-half save from Tsimikas and did so again after the break from the substitute Fotis Ioannidis.
Top stop from Jordan Pickford! 🙅‍♂️#ITVFootball | #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/3n9RTugI1C
Carsley reorganised at half-time. Ezri Konsa went off with a minor problem. Walker moved to centre-half and Hall was on at left-back. Then Carsley changed his attacking three after the hour and England would score two more. Rogers released Bellingham into a pocket of space to run at the Greece defence. His shot hit a post and then cannoned in off the legs of goalkeeper Vlachodimos.
Another substitute, Gibbs-White, brought an energy for England’s third. The move began in their own area and the Nottingham Forest man took the ball up the pitch, getting it back for the cross that Jones turned in with a flick of the inside heel of his right boot.
WHAT A GOAL FROM CURTIS JONES! 💥A beautiful little flick puts England three clear! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿#ITVFootball | #NationsLeague | @LFC pic.twitter.com/lkmbDJzRqO
Jude Bellingham took a thinly-veiled swipe at England’s drop-outs after Lee Carsley’s gamble to drop Harry Kane paid off in Athens.
Carsley suffered nine withdrawals ahead of the 3-0 win that put England in control of Uefa Nations League promotion, with Bellingham insisting those “who showed up were amazing” at the Olympic Stadium.
Kane was dropped and will start against Republic of Ireland on Sunday when England can secure promotion from Group B2 into the top tier, with Ollie Watkins replacing him and opening the scoring.
“It was a good win, an important win,” said Bellingham. “A lot was made of the lads that weren’t here but the lads that were here, who showed up, were amazing.
“Curtis making his debut, scoring, playing as he did. Amazing. I’m really proud of the boys tonight. There would have been a million and one excuses if we hadn’t played well tonight or [not] got over the line but the lads went out and did their business so professionally [and it’s] back to the top of the group, where we belong.”
We’re moving in the right direction [but] we won’t get too carried away. It’s important we recover for [Ireland on Sunday]. The players played to their strengths. We have a lot of outstanding talent. We concentrated on the players who were here, spoke about players getting their opportunity and we saw that tonight .
Curtis is an outstanding player. It was an excellent performance. I’m really delighted for him.
It was a good win, an important win. A lot was made of the lads that weren’t here but the lads that were here, who showed up, were amazing. Curtis making his debut, scoring, playing as he did. Amazing. I’m really proud of the boys tonight. There would have been a million and one excuses if we hadn’t played well tonight or [not] got over the line but the lads went out and did their business so professionally [and it’s] back to the top of the group, where we belong.
I tried [to make an impression]. The lads around helped as well. I was playing with a smile on my face, I was enjoying it and I came in with a goal as well. [When] you’ve got a team like ours I can come high, I can go low. I can get on the ball, I can play. There are lads there that can help, lads who said I could go and [on that occasion] Jude stayed back and I saw I had a chance to go [up]. Lucky enough I scored.
By Roy Keane and Ian Wright and England deserve the plaudits. They played well. And then Keane adds, twinkling: ‘You got an Irishman to take them top of the group and a German to come in.’
England go back to the top of the group on goal difference as Carsley’s calls – on Watkins and on hugely impressive performances from gradutaes of his U21 team promoted by him, Madueke, Jones and a fine cameo from Gibbs-White – pay off.
Four minutes to come. Pickford saves low to his left to push a shot away but I don’t think it had bent enough to creep in at the post. 
Smoke from red flares envelop the pitch as the home fans, saving them for a first ever home victory against England in Athens, is let off anyway. 
England play their way out down the left with Jones using some remarkable ball skill to lose Pelkas, flicking it with his heel to his left to trigger a shimmy that takes him clear. 
‘You’ve seen the England, now f— off home’ is the cry from the England end and then, a proper throwback, Jingle Bells to celebrate the joy of an away win. 
Wonderful player Jones, who suffers the curse of being criticised more heavily as a homegrown player than one bought into Liverpool. 
Kane piles down the right and balloons a cross beyond the backpost as he feared running out of room. 
Greece 0 England 3 (Jones) Lovely, insouciant finish from Jones, flicking it with his right instep through his own legs and in at the bottom corner. Gibbs-White was the architect, driving from left to right 50 yards to split the defence, play a give and go, and then tee up Jones.
WHAT A GOAL FROM CURTIS JONES! 💥A beautiful little flick puts England three clear! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿#ITVFootball | #NationsLeague | @LFC pic.twitter.com/lkmbDJzRqO
Gibbs-White ⇢ Gallagher. 
I would have thought Gomes would be the most suitable replacement given if England stay 2-0 up or extend it they go top and into the box seat on Sunday for the final round of matches. 
Greece 0 England 2 (Vlachodimos og) Bellingham drives up the inside left, sways infield and hammers a shot from 25 yards that was arrowing towards the bottom left but shapes away at the last to clip the post and rebound on to the unfortunate keeper, hitting him on his heels as he dived at full-stretch to try to reach the shot.
2-0 to England! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Bellingham’s strike bounces off the post, onto Vlachodimos and into the net#ITVFootball | #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/PPRKX35Gft
Gallagherw ins two tackles to stop Rota’s cross from the right on the 18-yard line and sends Kane off. But it’s one v five and Kane is swamped by blues shirts and back come Greece, rattling England with Tzolis’ first time shot after forcing Pickford to use his head to clear a ball pumped over the top. 
Kane shoots from 25 yards and straight down Vlachodimos’ throat. Greece look dangerous down their left with Tzolis and Giannoulis flooding into the space behind Bowen. 
Konstantelias ⇢ Masouras. 
The PAOK playmaker is brought on to try to find some of the magic that helped his side to the title last year. 
On come the cavalry:
Kane ⇢ Watkins
Bowen ⇢ Madueke
Rogers ⇢ Gordon. 
And again, Pickford to the rescue. Madueke’s shove had conceded a free-kick just inside the England half which was bent in towards the penalty spot. Guehi’s channel was again vacant and Tzolis slid in to apply the finishing touch at full stretch but couldn’t telescope his leg out far enough and Pickford slapped it away and was then bundled over by Zafeiris, milking it for all its worth.  
Big chance for Greece and Ioannidis, well-saved by Pickford, turning a curler, about 4ft up off the ground, around the post. Fine pass in from the right to Ioannidis to the right of the D. 
Zafeiris is booked for a swipe on Lewis. 
Walker uses Giannoulis as a rebound board to win a goalkick after the City defender used his pace to thwart a counter-attack, gaining six yards on the substitute left-back. 
Gallagher wins a free-kick on the left, 25 yards from goal, after chopping the ball from his right on to his left and Siopis fells him to stop him driving down the touchline. 
Tzolis blazes over from 25 yards after  Greece’s triple substitution:
Ioannidis ⇢ Pavlidis
Pelkas ⇢ Bakasetas
Giannoulis ⇢ Tsimikas 
The corner from the left is defended but the cross back in from the right is met by Bellingham who goes for precision not power and steers a loopy header on to the inside of the right post with Vlachodimos stranded. 
Vlachodimos, the forgotten £30 million man, makes a good save with his chest after more excellent work by Madueke. With his face lit green by a laser, the Chelsea winger beats two men down the right, writhing between them and when the ball falls to Lewis he hammers a shot from eight yards that Newcastle’s third choice keeper blocks and knocks behind. 
Greece are pressing higher and with more vigour, making England’s back four look nervy. But nothing untoward in possession when hounded thus far. 
England escape their box by the skin of their teeth with some risky passing and then enjoy a spell of calm probing. Too calm, really as Bellingham attempts to play a very difficult pass into the box from the left of the D when there was just a chink of a gap to shoot.
This is how to beat a press👇#ITVFootball | #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/LdKHITaGcc
Decent left-foot cross from Madueke from the right towards the penalty spot is just behind Watkins who had made a deeper run, expecting the right-foot away swinger. 
Lewis Hall ⇢ Ezri Konsa.
So Walker moves to centre-back and Lewis to right-back. 
The Newcastle left-back is primed to come on and link up with his club mate, Anthony Gordon.
So far… England have been the better side, Bellingham is enjoying plenty of possession and is being adventurous and precise with his passing. Madueke has Tsimikas on toast and Gordon’s pace is too much for Rota. Pickford, though, has had to be vigilant and has made one fine save to go with four or five necessary interventions. 
Baating Greece by two goals would put England top of the group before they face Ireland on Sunday and Greece go to Helsinki. 
Watkins, from a fine position and a pass that sends him gliding down the inside-left, is undone by a heavy touch mid-dribble before he can get a shot off. 
Two minutes of stoppage time are signalled by the fourth official. England continue to hog possession but held at arm’s length by Greece for now. 
The home fans boo as England probe patiently after a fine crossfield pass from Bellingham to Lewis tearing down the right. The long phase of possession only ends when Tsimikas clears out Madueke from behind on halfway. Should have been a booking. If he was carded, I’m afraid I didn’t see it. 
That spell of pressure from Greece is a result of their ingenuity but also of a midfield that often tilts off balance. 
Pickford is on his toes tonight. In only a couple of minutes he has raced out of his box to cut out a pass to Pavlidis, makes a firm save from Bakasetas’s shot and is off his line to gather Masouras’ dangerous cross to stop Pavlidis again. 
Quite noticeable that fans are targeting Jude Bellingham with a green laser from the stands.   
Lovely touch from Bellingham to get away on halfway and hurtle up the right. He has few options ahead so keeps going into the box but cannot get his shot away before Koulierakis catches up.
Sam Matterface says a proper Nanker Phelge is using a laserpen to distract England’s players.
Greece have adjusted, using Bakasetas to drift out of the centre and overload the full-backs who need their wingers to help. Pickford wriggles through the crowd to punch away the corner and Walker is happy to watch the second phase peter out with a too heavy ball over the top that sails behind. 
Madueke goes to sleep and lets Tsimikas peel off him and charge down the left. The full-back sprints 60 yards, plays a neat one-two in the box then thunders a shot with his laces that Pickford smartly saves. He hammered it and was on target inside the near post. Good save.
Top stop from Jordan Pickford! 🙅‍♂️#ITVFootball | #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/3n9RTugI1C
Hospital pass from Madueke to Jones, infield from the right, stops a promising England attack dead in its tracks. The move was instigated by Pickford channelling Neuer, racing out to intercept a pass to Pavlidis and chip it out to the right. 
The bounce of the ball runs for Tsimikas when his dink infield from the left comes back to him off Jones. He switches it out to the right and Rota runs on to it, chops it to his left then hooks a shot with his swinger miles wide. 
Pickford is booked for timewasting after dallying over the goal-kick restart. Very much a crowd yellow card, inspired by their whistling. Well played them. Wish Premier League referees were former on that no matter how early in the game. 
Lewis is playing like Pep taught him, regularly tucking into central midfield from the left to make a double pivot with Jones that frees Gallagher to bomb on. 
Yellow card for Masouras for two fouls in two minutes, neither of them spiteful, just grabs and taps. England are playing well. 
Madueke diddles Tsimikas again by dropping a shoulder. The Liverpool left-back buys the dummy, backpedals infield and then the Chelsea flyer storms down the outside but his cross goes straight to Mavropanos who hoofs it clear. 
England are penalised for hand ball from the corner after a tussle when the ball is headed up but not away. 
Back comes Madueke from the Greece free-kick and again he hares down the right but this time switches feet to come inside and drill a daisycutter shot straight at Vlachodimos. 
Bellingham frees another winger, this time Gordon, sending him down the line against Rota when he wanted the ball inside the full-back. He beats him nonetheless and cuts past his right shoulder to enter the box and strike a curling shot from abiut 15-yards that hist Mavropanos is balloons over for a corner. 
Gallagher is on thin ice after the booking. He has just leant in to Tsimikas who goes flying, hamming it up. Free-kick but no second booking. mercifully. Bakasetas whips in the free-kick from the left and Gallagher gallops through the six-yard box crowd to punch it away. 
Madueke almost creates another chance after another run down the right side of the box. This time his pass is cut out. 
Bellingham is booked for dissent after arguing with the referee about a foul he conceded for a tap to his opponent’s midriff that would not have winded a mouse. Seconds later Gallagher joins him in the book for delaying a quick free-kick. 
Greece 0-1 England (Watkins) Ironically, a typical Kane finish from a typical Kane position on the six-yard line. Watkins checked his run and then arrived at the perfect moment to turn in Madueke’s cross. The Chelsea winger did brilliantly after Bellingham spun on halfway and sent him down the right. He skinned Tsimikas, made it to the byline and put it virtually on a plate for Watkins.
That’s why Ollie Watkins is in the team! ⚽️#ITVFootball | #NationsLeague | @AVFCOfficial | @England pic.twitter.com/GtJgbPHpnz
Konsa has the speed to stop Pavlidis bursting through the inside right channel and knocks the ball back to Pickford. Noticeable how high Greece are pressing and that they have identified Lewis on the left as a vulnerability. 
Gordon concedes a free-kick when he responds to being turned by Masouras by grabbing his shirt. 
Gordon burns past Rota down the left when England trigger a quick attack, beats him on the outside then pulls a pass back into the box to the left of the spot inches behind Watkins. He gets a shout from Madueke who tries to pounce on the wayward pass but thumps his shot straight into Koulierakis. 
England kick off, Watkins, wearing 18, a nod to 1+8 or 2×9, rolls the ball back into midfield and Gallagher launches it up the left. Greece win the header and England retreat under the Greek press and start sweeping passes around defence. 
Are accompanied by a hand-held camera sweeping the lines with its mic on, treating us to the tuneless voices of many of the players on both sides. 
Greece from head to toe in royal blue, England in all white. 
Leaving out Harry Kane is simply perverse – unless this is the real sign that his status as England captain and main striker is coming to an end. But then that is not Lee Carsley’s choice. So why is he doing it now? It simply does not make any sense to say he “wanted to look at Ollie Watkins” because he will not be in charge after Sunday. So he should be dealing in the here and now and put out his strongest team to win this tie and let Thomas Tuchel worry about the future. Plus Carsley had the chance to play Watkins against Greece at home – when England lost – and he experimented again with Jude Bellingham as a false nine instead. It all smacks of a development coach trying out different ideas rather than an England manager focusing on results.
It was important to give Ollie Watkins the opportunity to experience a night like this. [England] needs to try to create leaders and one way of doing that is giving them the opportunity. Obviously [Harry Kane] wants to play but his attitude has been fantastic. He was fine, he was fine. It’s important we give the players the chance.
Curtis Jones is an all-round very good midfielder, his passing and his threat. He’ll play a little bit deeper tonight than he currently does with Liverpool but I’m really looking forward to watching him.
It’s important we match Greece for tempo and energy. Our goal is to win the World Cup so this will be valuable experience for them and hopefully help develop them.
You turn up and you expect him to be playing but the manager has made that decision and we have to get on with it. This is a game you want to be involved in. We take points off them and we’ve got a good chance of finishing top. With Harry on the bench Jude has to take the front mantelpiece (!) and get some goals tonight. There was a lot of emotion for Greece [at Wembley] with the very sad news of George Baldock dying. They played for him, really. We need to make sure we quieten the crowd and hopefully get a result.
He says Watkins deserves his opportunity and that Kane is fine with the caretaker head coach’s decision. 
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Watkins makes his sixth start and first since before the Euros. 
Ian Wright blames the FA for not engaging Tuchel for these two games and that it at least gives some other players a chance to shine. Roy Keane, who was rather more stinging on Stcik to Football, concurs.
ITV confirms that Kane is fully fit and is on the bench for tactical reasons. 
Only Pickford, Lewis, Bellingham and Gordon remain from that defeat at Wembley 35 days ago while Greece make two changes – out go Giannoulis and Kourbelis for Tsimikas and Zafeiris. 
Vlachodimos; Rota, Mavropanos, Koulierakis, Tsimikas; Zafeiris, Siopis; Masouras, Bakasetas, Tzolis, Pavlidis. 
Tonight’s #ThreeLions 👊 pic.twitter.com/SvMLeo4I57
Pickford; Walker, Guehi, Konsa; Lewis; Gallagher, Jones; Madueke, Bellingham, Gordon; Watkins. 
Kane is on the bench. We don’t know yet if he is not 100 per cent fit or if it’s a tactical decision by Lee Carsley.
Following eight withdrwals and five late call-ups:
The team I’d like to see: Pickford; Livramento, Konsa, Guehi, Hall; Gomes; Madueke, Bellingham, Jones, Gordon; Kane.
But I suspect Kyle Walker will start at right-back and Conor Gallagher instead of Curtis Jones alongside Gomes in a 4-2-3-1 rather than 4-1-4-1. 
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of England’s trip to Athens to take on Greece in their penultimate Uefa Nations League Group B2 match. It is also Lee Carsley’s penultimate match in charge and his status among the slender ranks of England caretaker managers – Joe Mercer, Howard Wilkinson x 2, Peter Taylor, Stuart Pearce and Gareth Southgate – cannot climb much higher than midtable, in terms of being consequential. Southgate, who started with two wins and two draws before allowing himself to be persuaded to take the job full-time, set the foundations of England’s rejuvenation from the shame of the Hodgson years and the Iceland fiasco; Uncle Joe brought a smile back to the face of English football after the dog days of Sir Alf and Jan Banas, Wlodzimierz Lubanski Jan Tomaszewski combined to keep England out of the 1974 World Cup finals while Peter Taylor pivoted to youth and made David Beckham captain, decisions that would shape the next six years.
I don’t think Carsely can match any of that though his shrewd if leftfield selection of Angel Gomes has the potential to have long-term, positive ramifications. Had his Fantasy Football selection for the home match against Greece paid off, instead of England succumbing 2-1 at Wembley, he may have better claims than the three mentioned but I don’t think anything the national team does can put the smile back on the face of English football these days, other than at tournaments, such is the scale of exasperation with a side that has consistently seemed to be less than the sum of its parts since 2021, and rage about the whole idea of the Nations League and autumn/winter international football.  
Nonetheless, his stock stands higher than Messrs Wilkinson and Pearce who had to step in after sackings and resignations for one match spells, a thankless task with splintered authority and, in Wilkinson’s case the first time, world champions France eight months on from beating Brazil 3-0 in the final. That ‘here today gone tomorrow’ quality of Carsley’s position, a jibe that Sir Robin Day once tossed like a curare-tipped dart, seems to have cost him several members of his originally named squad if deep throats at clubs speaking off the record to reporters are to be believed. 
And yet his captain, Harry Kane, came out with the most scathing statement of his career to denounce the drop-outs and reaffirm England’s pre-eminence in his priorities. “It’s a tough period of the season and maybe it’s been taken advantage of a little bit,” he said. “I don’t really like it, if I’m totally honest. I think England comes before any club situation.” Yes, that ‘little bit’ seems to dilute it with soft soap, but this is Kane we’re talking about deep in the age of press-conference blandishments. That was the John Major of England captains tearing a strip off his colleagues.  
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ‘England comes before everything, England comes before your club.’ 💬 Harry Kane ahead of England’s Nations League clash with Greece tomorrow🗣️ @GabrielClarke05 pic.twitter.com/I8cf60OCLC
And so a makeshift squad will take on Greece, who have won all four of their games, hoping for the victory that will give them a chance of automatic promotion back to Group A and avoid play-off matches in March that will likely have to be squeezed in around the World Cup qualifiers which will be determined on Dec 13. The FA, English public and doubtless Thomas Tuchel himself would prefer a clear run at the World Cup rather than the clutter of a Carsley interregnum, hangover play-off. They say irregulars always fight harder for their medals: let’s see if that’s true tonight. 
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