Harry Kane backtracks after brutal message to Arsenal stars Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice

England captain Harry Kane has backtracked on his criticism of his teammates after a raft of withdrawals from the national squad for November's two international matches.

Interim manager Lee Carsley took charge of the Three Lions for their 3-0 Nations League victory against Greece on Thursday night, but it was a new-look side, with three players awarded their first senior caps. Nine players dropped out of the squad earlier this week, including Chelsea pair Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill, plus Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka from London rivals Arsenal.

A host of youngsters - including Liverpool's Curtis Jones, Newcastle United's Lewis Hall and Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers were awarded a huge opportunity to impress with ex-Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel set to take charge of England from January. That being said, the fact that so many senior figures withdrew from the squad represents a damning indictment of the fixture congestion players face in the modern game.

Kane, who currently plays his football in Germany with Bayern Munich, expressed his discontent at the situation earlier in the camp, as he told ITV Sport: "I think England comes before anything. England comes before club.

"England is the most important thing you play as a professional footballer and [ex-manager] Gareth [Southgate] was hot on that - and he wasn't afraid to make decisions if, you know, that started to drift from certain players. I think it's a tough period of the season, maybe that's been taken advantage of a little bit."

However, when speaking to the media ahead of Sunday afternoon's Nations League match with the Republic of Ireland, Kane insisted his criticism was aimed at clubs, as opposed to his teammates.

"All the players try and give their best whenever they come with England, I know it's a really tough stage of the season," he admitted. "Whoever is in the squad is the most important thing. Whatever we have here is all we can work with.

"Going forward, there are always going to be injuries, and it is just whoever is with the squad is ready to make the difference. I didn't expect it [the initial comments] to get as much coverage as it did.

"The November camp has always been difficult, you're in the heart of a lot of games. So it's just my opinion that it is really important after a major championship, where September, October, November camps are really important in a year ahead to the World Cup.

"These are the camps as well where you build that culture and that togetherness that lead you into a World Cup. It was just a reminder that it's really, really special to play for England."

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