Alan Shearer tells England star he should be ‘absolutely raging’ after Greece defeat

Joe Williams
Alan Shearer on England
Alan Shearer during his role as a television pundit.

Ollie Watkins should be “absolutely raging” at Lee Carsley after England lost 2-1 to Greece in the Nations League, according to Alan Shearer.

Gareth Southgate’s interim successor, Lee Carsley, enjoyed a winning start to life in charge, but the afterglow from last month’s promising 2-0 victories against the Republic of Ireland and Finland disappeared at Wembley.

Thursday’s Nations League clash with Greece began with hopeful expectation and ended with boos from England fans after Vangelis Pavlidis secured a historic, and thoroughly deserved, 2-1 victory deep in stoppage time.

The Euro 2024 runners-up looked rudderless without the ball and toothless with it in an alarming all-round display as Carsley’s decision to deploy five attackers without an out-and-out striker backfired.

And Shearer thinks Aston Villa striker Watkins – who has contributed four goals and two assists in seven Premier League matches this season – should be frustrated that, in the absence of Harry Kane, Carsley decided to start the match without a striker.

Shearer told the Rest is Football podcast: “You’d be absolutely raging if you were Ollie Watkins.

“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

“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.'”

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Carsley – who is expected to be able to call upon Kane again when England travel to Helsinki to play Finland on Sunday – insists he will stick to his attacking principles no matter which players he has available.

“My position and my understanding of coaching, I want to attack,” Carsley 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.”