Alan Shearer believes one England star should be 'furious' after Greece defeat

Alan Shearer is of the opinion that Ollie Watkins has every right to be furious with interim boss Lee Carsley following England's shock loss to Greece on Thursday, caused by Carsley's unconventional tactics.

Watkins had been expected to start in the absence of the injured Harry Kane but England instead started with no out-and-out striker and five other attackers.

Having only trialled the system for 20 minutes on the eve of the match, it was perhaps no surprise that England failed to look coherent in possession and were subsequently left wide open on the counter.

Greece capitalised on that meek, incoherent display, with Vangelis Pavlidis striking in stoppage time – his second of the night – shortly after Jude Bellingham had levelled to seal a 2-1 triumph.

Reflecting on the game, Shearer suggested that the Aston Villa striker should be knocking down Carsley’s door to demand an explanation on why he was not given a chance to shine at Wembley in Kane’s absence.

‘You’d be absolutely raging if you were Ollie Watkins,’ the former Three Lions striker said on the Rest is Football podcast.

‘Your main man, or your main centre forward, is injured and you’ve been crying out for an opportunity. And when you’ve come on you’ve actually done alright, in terms of Watkins, and he’s doing well at club level

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‘Yet when Kane’s out, the manager comes to you and says: “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 [angry]. He should be knocking on his door tomorrow, saying: “I have to play the next game, if Kane’s not fit.”‘

Kane is expected to return to the starting XI for Sunday’s trip to Helsinki, but Carsley was adamant that, regardless, he would stick to his attacking principles.

‘My position and my understanding of coaching, I want to attack,’ he said.

‘I want to attack – you’ve seen the teams play (at Under-21s level). It’s something that’s really important to me and with that you do lose games. You do lose some games.

‘It’s not ideal, of course it’s not, but with that mentality, I’ve found that you definitely win more games than not.

‘It’s very disappointing tonight but nothing changes in terms of the way that I see the game. It’s not affected how I see it.’

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