Lee Carsley vows England will go all-out attack vs Greece with 'no regrets' over defeat

England were stunned by Greece in a shock 2-1 defeat in the Nations League last month but Lee Carsley insists his side will throw caution to the wind in Athens in his penultimate match as manager

England interim boss Lee Carsley has promised to go all-out attack - even after his Wembley nightmare.

Carsley paid a heavy price for trying to get all of his big-name stars and forwards into the same starting line-up against Greece last month. Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden all played and England lost to Greece in one of the biggest upsets ever seen at Wembley.

That has put England in serious danger of not winning their Nations League group when they were expected to win in style and it also perhaps finished any lingering hope Carsley had of getting the job. But despite all of that, Carsley insists that he will go for it again in Athens and has set his sights on getting a two-goal victory to try and overhaul Greece at the top.

Carsley said: “The type of team I will pick – as you can probably guess – will be quite attacking. That’s the way I coach and how I want their attitudes to be, I want to attack. Hopefully that will work out well.

“We had a disappointing result against Greece and we now have a chance to rectify that by going out there. I realise how important that is. It’s easy to regret something after you know the results and the performance. I believed in what we tried. It was important to try something different.

“I watch a lot of football and players are even more adaptable to the styles and the systems that they play so I definitely don’t regret trying something different. It’s easy to regret things after the event, once you’ve realised the result, but I am still disappointed in the manner of the goals we conceded.

"Really poor goals and really poor timing right at the end of the game. But would I have felt any better had we drawn? Probably not. But it’s important that sometimes we have that leeway to try something because with international fixtures it’s sometimes difficult to experiment and to risk it and get something wrong because of the spotlight that is so much on the team and the manager.”

Palmer, Saka and Foden are all missing this time but Gordon is set to start and Bellingham will have to star if England want to beat Greece in front of a packed-out stadium. But this is also a chance for England to show what they can do to new boss Thomas Tuchel even if the German does not start until January 1 and will not even be at the game.

Carsley said: “From a long-term point of view it’s another opportunity for the new head coach to see something we have tried. It maybe gives him some ideas. 100 per cent agree that we need to put the performance right. We have a chance now against a good Greek team in Greece.

“In terms of me, I have done four games as England senior manager and have won three and lost one. I still don’t think it's a reflection of myself and 20 years of coaching. It’s great that the team keeps winning and that’s important but I am second, third, fourth if anything and that’s the way I have always tried to be in terms of dealing with the criticism – which was justified after the performance.

“It’s part and parcel. It’s frustrating but ultimately it’s been an honour to do this job and hopefully I can finish on a high.”

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