Lee Carsley’s gimmick against Greece worked much better the second time around as his ‘big call’ was justified and Thomas Tuchel suffered a headache…

A characteristic of Lee CarsleyInterim time as England manager is that he has fearlessly made bold changes and formation decisions.

This was to his detriment during last month’s international break as his use of a fluid attacking five-man frontline backfired in England’s boring 2-1 home loss against a pumped-up GreeceWHO bark has won more comfortably.

Safe in the knowledge that he is ready to return to his cozy gig with the U21s, Carsley experimented again in Englandmust win match against table toppers Greece on Thursday night.

This time his hand was largely forced as he named an inexperienced starting XI after there was a wave of withdrawals – for which Thomas Tuchel was NOT to blame – with a host of his key players ‘injured’.

Rightly assumed that England’s new XI against Greece would include Harry Kane, but Carsley – his friends call him Mr Tinkerer – named the Bayern Munich forward on the bench and started Ollie Watkins in a “huge conversation” unnecessarily deemed “extraordinary” by Sky Sports reporter Rob Dorsett.

The timing of this switch was puzzling, especially after Kane’s – as Roy Keane called it – “strange” decision to call out his teammates who pulled out of Carsley’s final squad.

This was a change that was required for Euro 2024 as England carried an ineffective Kane, which seemed to carry a knock of some kind.

But in Kane’s defence, former boss Gareth Southgate – who apparently remains on the striker’s Christmas card list – did not play to the leggy 31-year-old’s strengths as England sorely lacked pace and width at Euro 2024.

That number has been changed by Carsley, who has given Noni Madueke and Anthony Gordon plenty of playing time during recent international breaks.

The Chelsea and Newcastle United pair started in a hostile Athens environment and had plenty of joy on the flanks while being found with too much ease by Jude Bellingham, who had a fantastic time dictating play in the middle of the park.

Madueke and Gordon were immediately beaten by their opponents’ full-backs and with Kane rested, it was Watkins who benefited.

READ: England player ratings: Bellingham back to dizzying best in 3-0 win over Greece

Right from kick-off England were more balanced than they were in their last game against Greece and the front four of Watkins, Bellingham, Madueke and Gordon combined well.

It took England just seven minutes to cut Greece open and break the deadlock. A sublime reverse pass by Bellingham freed Madueke to silence the jeers of the home crowd by advancing into the penalty area to pull the ball back to Watkins, who held his position well in the six-yard box and converted past Odysseas Vlachodimos.

This silenced a typically whiny Lee Dixon, who had spent the opening minutes commenting and hammering home the importance of bench-warming Kane.

While Sam Matterface delivered his usual silly take after Watkins found the net, saying: “That’s why he’s in the team”. Yes, because this particular Kane-esque goal definitely wouldn’t have been scored by the Bayern man. ITV really backed the wrong leading commentator.

READ: A step-by-step guide to showing that Harry Kane has actually scored exactly zero real goals for England

Greece would probably have been licking their lips when they discovered England’s starting line-up, but – apart from a 15-minute period where they came under pressure – the visitors handled themselves well in the opening half and showed a different side to their game in the latter stages when they kept possession to take the sting out of the game.

But the longer the scoreline remained an uncomfortable 1-0, England risked coming under more pressure in the face of increased enthusiasm and decibels in the stands.

This proved the case as Greece pinned England back deep in their half and forced Pickford to save his team on one or two occasions.

As is usually the case with international breaks at the start of the season, there has been very little excitement ahead of England’s games as most football fans would prefer to focus on Right football in the Premier League.

The Nations League is hardly the most sought-after competition, but it’s a big compromise to unimportant friendlies and the legitimate danger of this game made it more entertaining than it had any right to be.

This site is far from Dixon’s biggest fan and as I said, he wasn’t perfect tonight. But he was right to point out that at 1-0 each team needed a goal and not conceding to take control of the group.

This was evident throughout the development of an increasingly tough match, but England withstood the pressure and hit the counter-attack to take the game away from Greece.

In the 78th minute, an England breakaway led by Jude Bellingham resulted in the Real Madrid standout hitting the post from the edge of the box. Fortunately for the Three Lions and unfortunately for Vlachodimos, the ball bounced off the helpless keeper and into the net.

Their third goal of the night was much easier on the eye. Carsley’s exploitation of its Under-21 stars was justified as a superb assist by substitute Morgan Gibbs-White set up Liverpool’s Curtis Jones – who had been one of England’s weaker performers on the night – to boldly back the ball into the bottom corner.

In the context of the group, England’s third could be vital. The new league leaders are level with Greece but hold a three-goal goal difference advantage ahead of their home final against Ireland on Sunday.

Did 3-0 flatter England? Something. But it was a much improved performance from their last outing against Greece in a system with more legs than the failed 4-2-4 at Wembley.

England’s team will be much changed again for Thomas Tuchel’s first game, but Carsley’s stand-ins largely gave a good account of themselves.

Madueke gave the new boss something to think about on the right, Bellingham was back to his best in all action, actual left-footed left-back Lewis Hall impressed off the bench and is a shoo-in going forward and Watkins produced a Kane-style finish to show “why he’s on the team”, apparently.