I watched Greece to see what England are up against - this will be Lee Carsley's toughest test yet

One of the problems with assessing whether interim England head coach Lee Carsley has the chops to take the job on full-time is that this Nations League campaign doesn’t provide many serious tests of a Three Lions team that probably shouldn’t be down in Group B in the first place. Greece, however, could represent stiffer opposition than many fans might expect – and we watched their recent matches to see what England are up against.

Although Greece have few star players and didn’t qualify for Euro 2024 – they lost on penalties to Georgia in the play-offs – results over the last year or so have been impressive under the guidance of both former head coach Gus Poyet and new broom Ivan Jovanović, who took over ahead of the Nations League campaign. They top the table ahead of England, having scored an extra goal in their own wins over Finland and the Republic of Ireland.

Over the past year, only three teams have managed to score a goal against this Greek team: The Netherlands, who scraped a 1-0 win thank to an injury-time penalty; Germany, who were incredibly fortunate to win 2-1 in a pre-Euros friendly; and France, who were held to a 2-2 draw. Lesser sides have mostly been dispatched with ease and with a clean sheet, often kept quite comfortably.

There are a few names that will be familiar to Premier League fans, at least. Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas will presumably start in defence, as will West Ham United’s Kostas Mavropanos and Newcastle United’s third-choice goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos. Former Norwich City winger Christos Tzolis will probably play on the left. There are names who will be known to those who frequent stats websites or transfer forums, but this is not a team driven by star quality.

Nevertheless, they will probably give Carsley his toughest test yet, and Thursday’s match at Wembley, along with the return trip to Athens, may offer up the best chances for the former Ireland midfielder to prove that he’s up to the task of taking England into the 2026 World Cup campaign.

Disciplined and dangerous

Jovanović has taken over a side which is well-drilled and well-disciplined, while a switch from a 3-5-2 system to a 4-2-3-1 seems to have offered them a little more attacking fluidity as well – although their leading goalscorer, Panathinaikos striker Fotis Ioannidis, will be missing with a knee injury. He scored three of Greece’s five goals in the first two Nations League games and losing him may prove to be substantial.

Outside of Ioannidis, whose three Nations League goals included a glorious 20-yard curler in Dublin, the Greeks lack a quality finisher. Tzolis scored with a brilliant finish to wrap up the win over the Irish, but also spurned a couple of glorious chances against Germany when Poyet’s side should have won in Dortmund. Those were golden opportunities that fell to the wrong man, but also showed off one of Greece’s strengths, which is their organised high press.

On several occasions they won the ball high up the pitch against Germany, leading not only to some huge chances for Tzolis but also to Giorgios Masouras’ goal, which came from a move started when Jamal Musiala was robbed inside the German half. Against Ireland, too, they created several headaches when pressuring the back line in numbers and with intensity. England struggled with Spain’s pressing game in the final of Euro 2024 and while Greece may not be quite at that level, their ferocity and organisation off the ball could challenge England’s defence and disrupt their distribution from the back.

In defence, Greece are impressive as well. When out of possession, they quickly form up into a low block featuring a tight, narrow back four with the two midfielders in their double pivot right in front of them providing a protective shield. The result is that slow attacks will find six defenders inside the box right away, forcing most teams to lean on long shots or luck to score, such as when Germany required Kai Havertz’s deflected strike to equalise or France drew level thanks to a long-range stunner from Youssouf Fofana.

Under Gareth Southgate, England tended to be slow and methodical in attack and sometimes struggled to break down teams which played in organised low blocks. They generally got there in the end, but the kind of quick counters which may be needed to open Greece up weren’t often in evidence under the old regime. That’s an area in which Carsley can improve England, and he can prove that he can do that tonight at Wembley.

If Greece have a weakness, it’s that they can struggle to impose themselves in midfield. They set themselves up with the expectation of ceding possession and playing on the counter-attack against Germany and France, for instance, but even against Finland they had to settle for less of the ball than their opponents and all three of their goals came from quick attacks rather than via lengthy or intricate passing moves. They can open teams up quickly, but Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham and England’s other midfielders may be able to control the tempo of the game for long periods.

This is a game England will expect to win, but several of Europe’s best teams have found this Greek team to be a very tough nut to crack and they are comfortable sitting deep without the ball for long stretches while looking for opportunities to create sudden shooting chances in the final third. Jovanović has inherited a team which is well-organised at both ends of the pitch and deeply resilient. A comfortable win for Carsley’s side would be a significant feather in his cap, and strong evidence that he could be the man to take England forward – this probably won’t be easy.