Lee Carsley sidestepped questions about whether he wants the England job on a permanent basis after the interim boss said he will “hopefully” be returning to his role with the Under-21s following next month’s fixtures.
September’s promising Nations League wins against the Republic of Ireland and Finland were followed by boos from those left at Wembley after seeing Greece seal a late, but thoroughly deserved, 2-1 victory.
Vangelis Pavlidis scored a stoppage-time winner – his second of the night – shortly after Jude Bellingham looked to have saved the Euro 2024 runners-up’s blushes having struggled against the side ranked 48th in the world.
Carsley’s bold, attack-minded line-up was flawed and the performance damaged the England Under-21s manager’s chances of permanently succeeding Gareth Southgate as senior team boss.
Asked if the Greece defeat negatively impacts his hopes of becoming permanent manager, he said: “I was quite surprised after the last camp in terms of like ‘the job’s mine’, like it’s ‘mine to lose’ and all the rest of it.
“No, my remit has been clear from the start. I’m doing three camps, there’s three games left and then, you know, hopefully I’ll be going back to the 21s.”
Picked up on his eye-catching comment that he will “hopefully” return to the Under-21s, Carsley said: “Well, I said at the start that I wouldn’t rule myself in or out and that’s still the case.
“I’m more than comfortable in my position where I am. The remit was clear. I’m comfortable and confident with that.
“After the first camp I definitely didn’t get too excited or believe too much.
“I’m very aware that this job is one of the best in the world in terms of you’ve actually got a chance of winning – obviously I’m talking about that after a loss but in terms of a major competition – and that’s still the case.”
Carsley’s answer was as confusing as his side’s display as England lost to Greece for the first time, leading to further attempts to clarify his feelings about the permanent role.
Asked directly whether he wants the England job or not, he said: “Well, nothing’s changed in what I said in the first press conference.
“I think it’s a fantastic job. I’m lucky that I’ve got a good job as it is in terms of the 21s.
“But, like I say, after the first camp when we won two games and had two really good performances, my ambitions didn’t change.
“I think it’s important that I give it everything I’ve got for the next three games.
“I’m really happy and comfortable in terms of the communication I have with my bosses, so nothing’s changed in that respect.”
England trail Group B2 leaders Greece by three points after a result Carsley’s side need to bounce back from away to winless Finland on Sunday.
“What did I think went wrong? Well, I didn’t think we started the game great,” the interim boss said after Greece paid the perfect tribute to their full-back George Baldock after news of his death emerged on the eve of the match.
“I thought that we were second best a lot of times. Obviously we tried something different with the formation and the areas of the pitch we tried to get into.
“We never really give ourselves a chance to see if whether it was the right decision or wrong.
“Obviously looking at the result and the way the game panned out it was a challenging night for us.
“Greece played well and were highly motivated as you’d expect and, yeah, I just thought we were just second best too much tonight.”
Carsley continued: “With the players that we’ve got, I think we’ve got to be courageous at times with our systems and be creative.
“I could have quite easily have gone with a recognised nine, we had two on the bench, but I thought it was important to try something different.
“At this stage as well coming off the last two game, I never at any point thought that I’ve got it cracked. It was a case of let’s try something different.
“And I’m happy to take blame for it. It’s totally my idea. I thought about it long and hard in terms of how it might look and how we might build, how it might feel.
“It’s something that didn’t come off tonight, but I don’t think we should rule out having that opportunity to try something different.”