OLLIE WATKINS will be “raging” and “knocking on Lee Carsley’s door” after not starting for England against Greece, says Alan Shearer.
Three Lions’ interim boss Carsley, 50, suffered his first defeat as national team coach on Thursday night as his side suffered a shock 2-1 loss to Greece at Wembley.
England were without captain Harry Kane as he was not declared fit in time for the clash.
Yet instead of replacing him with second-choice striker Watkins, 28, Carsley opted to line up without a striker.
Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham rotated as the most advanced player, before Watkins came on after an hour.
The Aston Villa forward’s place on the bench comes after he scored 27 goals in 53 games for Unai Emery’s men last season.
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He went to the Euros under Gareth Southgate and scored a 90th-minute winner against Holland in the semi-finals.
Ex-England striker Shearer, 54, feels Watkins should be furious and demand a start against Finland on Sunday.
Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast: “You would be absolutely raging if you were Ollie Watkins, wouldn’t you?
“Your main centre-forward is injured and you’ve been crying out for an opportunity.
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“When you’ve come on, you’ve actually done alright… and he’s doing well at club level.
“Yet when Kane is out, the manager comes to you and says, ‘Well, I’m not going to play you tonight at home against Greece, I’m going to try something different’.
“He’s got every right to be [raging], he should be knocking on his door, tonight or tomorrow, saying: ‘I have to play the next game if Kane is not fit’.”
Watkins has earned 15 England caps, scoring four goals.
Just five of those have been starts – the last of which came in a 3-0 win over Bosnia in June.
It is not yet known whether record scorer Kane will be available for the trip to Finland.
England player ratings vs Greece
By Tom Barclay
LEE CARSLEY’S tactical experiment of playing no strikers backfired as Vangelis Pavlidis’ double secured an emotional shock win for Greece at Wembley.
Interim England boss Carsley played all three of our nation’s gifted No10s – Phil Foden, Jue Bellingham and Cole Palmer – in varying positions.
But it did not work and the Greeks took a deserved lead thanks to Pavlidis’ belting second-half finish.
The visitors then held up a shirt in celebration bearing the name Baldock – in reference to their team-mate George Baldock, whose passing at the age of just 31 on Wednesday rocked the world of football.
Bellingham looked to have ensured the points were shared with a thunderous strike with three minutes to go.
But there was still time for Pavlidis to expose some woeful defending deep into injury time by firing past Jordan Pickford.
Here are SunSport’s player ratings from a dire night for England under the arch.
Jordan Pickford: 4
Wandered into no-man’s-land territory outside his box early on and lost the ball, allowing Greek skipper Tasos Baksetas a free shot at goal – only to be saved by Levi Colwill’s last-gasp clearance. Did not instil confidence, despite his experience.
Trent Alexander-Arnold: 6
Some tasty passes – they are his speciality, after all – but not great at the back. He, John Stones and Cole Palmer were weak in their attempt to close down Vangelis Pavlidis before the Benfica man smashed home the opener.
John Stones: 5
Made captain for what was his 82nd cap, surpassing Rio Ferdinand’s haul. But it was a shaky display from his defence and Stones should have done better to stop Pavlidis.
Levi Colwill: 7
Greece would have been ahead far sooner were it not for Colwill’s athletic hack away to deny Bakasetas. Replays showed it would have crossed the line had the Chelsea man been a split second later with his incredible intervention.
Rico Lewis: 6
Tried to bomb up the left flank where he could but, just like Kieran Trippier at the Euros, was hamstrung by constantly having to cut back onto his favoured right foot.
Declan Rice: 6
Played as England’s only holding midfielder, as fans had been imploring Gareth Southgate to use him for years. It was not like he was overrun but his side did look vulnerable on the counter.
Phil Foden: 4
Spent most of the game pressing the Greek backline as a false nine without really getting on the ball and causing any damage. Ineffective.
Cole Palmer: 6
Deployed in a deeper, central-midfield role which at least meant he saw plenty of the ball, though he blazed England’s best chance of the first half over the bar. Remarkably, his first competitive England start, despite being named on Tuesday as Three Lions player of the 2023-24 season.
Bukayo Saka: 5
Struggled to get into the game and then was forced out of it, worryingly limping off early in the second half. The last thing Arsenal fans wanted to see.
Jude Bellingham: 7 STAR MAN
Played in a false nine position and had a belting early shot well saved. The system did not work but Bellingham still so nearly emerged as the saviour by banging in his first goal of the season for club and country.
Anthony Gordon: 5
Caused Greece few problems and his touch looked off it. Had a decent chance from Alexander-Arnold’s peach of a delivery but headed over.
SUBS:
Noni Madueke (for Saka 52): Played out on the left, rather than his natural right, when coming on. Went down in the box deep into injury time but no penalty was given. 6
Ollie Watkins (for Gordon 60): Almost scored with his first touch when played through by Palmer, but smashed just over. 7
Dominic Solanke (for Foden 72): Grabbed an assist when laying the ball back to Bellingham who thumped in the leveller. 7
Manager Lee Carsley: 4
Seemed to gamble unnecessarily with this experimental system instead of playing it safe to add another win to boost his case to earn the job full-time. Carsley played without a natural centre-forward when winning the Under-21 Euros because he had to after Flo Balogun switched the USA and Rhian Brewster got injured, but here he did it by choice and it did not work. Bellingham looked to have saved his bacon – but then Pavlidis struck again.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
