Finland v England: Lee Carsley must show he has learnt important lessons about balance

It turns out that when the man who led England to a World Cup semi-final and two European Championship finals refused to bow to public pressure and chuck all his best attacking players on at once, he knew what he was talking about.

Who'd have thought it?

Not just losing at home to a Greece team inspired by the death of their team-mate, former Sheffield United wing-back George Baldock, but being battered by them was a shock to the feeling of inevitability about Carsley dropping the word "interim" from his job title in 2025.

Because although the scoreline said 2-1, the evidence of your eyes was a lot more damning.

Greece had three goals chalked off – rightly – and a shot brilliantly cleared off the line by ex-Huddersfield Town loanee Levi Colwill. It underlined how easily they cut through England's exposed defence.

Going the other way, this less attack-minded, more attack-obsessed side offered next to nothing.

When after 87 minutes Jude Bellingham scored his first goal since dragging England out of the mire against Slovakia in June, it looked like the band could strike up their beloved Great Escape but a second goal for Evangelos Pavlidis saw things turned out like... well, much like the Great Escape, actually.

Now it falls on Carsley to show he has learnt from the experience in Helsinki on Sunday.

When we enjoyed his team breezing past the Republic of Ireland and the Finish team they face again at the weekend, we worried England might learn nothing from a first season in Nations League Division B.

But we learnt rather more about Carsley than we bargained for. We can only hope what he got were not so much lessons, just reminders.

He should have known full well that if you disrespect sport as he did with Thursday’s team, it will bite you in the bottom.

Football – sport – is about balance.

Leeds United fans, like England's so often under Southgate, are frustrated their manager is too quick on the handbrake. When Hull City's see debutant centre-back Charlie Hughes faffing in his own penalty area during a 4-0 defeat at Norwich City, they must yearn for restraint.

The first official Three Lions team, in Partick in 1872, had one full-back, two half-backs and seven forwards. Boring, boring Scotland had just the six up top. Result: 0-0.

So literally from day one England discovered football is more complicated than the more forwards you throw on, the more you score.

The game has evolved unrecognisably since, but the trap remains and Carsley fell in headfirst.

You might call his formation 4-2-4-0 but full-backs Rico Lewis and Trent Alexander-Arnold bombed on – usually centrally rather than wide – and alleged central midfielder Cole Palmer often left Declan Rice to it.

Even goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was itching to get forward. Thank goodness captain-for-the-night John Stones was too sensible.

It is customary and understandable for England coaches to moan about injuries but Carsley's problem was too many top players fit. Things were much easier when Palmer and Phil Foden were missing last month.

It was not even the most balanced use of his XI. Bellingham has been playing for Real Madrid this season as the kind of deeper midfielder Rice desperately needed for company. He played as one of two "false nines" alongside Foden.

Two "false nines" – forwards dropping into midfield – won Manchester United the FA Cup final in May but they had a solid, defensively-minded midfield behind them, not one of European football's most exciting young forwards.

If in Germany we were worried Foden, Bellingham and Harry Kane were trying to play in the same spaces, at Wembley they looked like the ticket gates at King's Cross station after a trademark unreasonably late platform announcement.

In 84 minutes between Bellingham forcing a save and scoring, the hosts did not have a shot on target.

With Kane injured, a genuine centre-forward in his place might have eased the congestion. By full-time, England had two – Dominic Solanke and Ollie Watkins.

It only added to the air of confusion Carsley compounded in his post-match press conference.

"I’m doing three camps and then hopefully I’ll be going back to the (under-)21s," he said.

It might just have been a slip of the tongue. It happens to us all, though rarely to Southgate.

“I said at the start I wouldn’t rule myself in or out,” the former Sheffield United assistant manager clarified. “That’s still the case."

When he picks Sunday’s team, Carsley needs to show more clarity of thought. No trying to please everyone by shoehorning all his best players in, but a proper, balanced team, positive not kamikaze.

It is not as easy as it looks.