The brief interregnum of Lee Carsley has not been without incident, although in Athens so the odyssey delivered him from the mistakes of his past and a triumph that means life will be a little simpler for his successor Thomas Tuchel. England now have only to beat the Republic of Ireland at Wembley on Sunday to be promoted back to the top tier of Nations League competition as the winners of their group. If that is accomplished there will be no March play-off for the new England manager and Carsley can depart the caretaker role having in part vanquished the nightmare of defeat to Greece in October.
Carsley left out England captain and all-time leading goalscorer Harry Kane and when his replacement Ollie Watkins scored on seven minutes, one suspected this might be the manager’s night. England had to survive another robust Greece performance but Carsley stuck to his commitment to his Under-21s and gave debuts to Curtis Jones, Lewis Hall and Morgan Rogers – and the boys came good for him. Not least Jones, the Liverpool man having the season of his life, who scored on the occasion of his first cap – England’s third on 83 minutes that followed a second directed into his own net by the Greece goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.
It was not always straightforward. Jordan Pickford had to make two fine saves. There were moments of inspiration from Jude Bellingham for the first and second England goals, but the team came through for Carsley, who also introduced Morgan Gibbs-White jus.
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