England finally wrestled control of their Nations League group back from Greece, with a 3-0 victory in Athens. But with Curtis Jones, Lewis Hall, Noni Madueke, and Ollie Watkins drafted in to replace a number of drop-outs, Adam Clery looks at how they were able to pull together such a uniquely un-England performance
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00:00Okay, so as you no doubt heard in the build-up to this game, England had loads of players
00:06pulling out and it sort of left them with this quasi-B-proto-under-21 version of the
00:13team.
00:14At the back we had Jordan Pickford, Rico Lewis, Mark Gay, Esri Konta and Kyle Walker because
00:18if you've ever heard anything about his personal life, you know the man simply detests
00:22the very concept of pulling out.
00:24In midfield there was a debut for Curtis Jones who was fantastic alongside Connor Gallagher
00:28who I really like and Jude Bellingham who is obviously Jude Bellingham.
00:32And then we had Nani Mandweke on the right, football's fiercest fashionista Tony Gaurds
00:37over on the left and Ollie Watkins up front which is where we'll start with this.
00:42Now I'm not going to over-complicate this video or make it really, really long.
00:45It'll probably be one of the shortest ones we've ever done, right, because the points
00:48are very, very simple and the first one is that Ollie Watkins is a very different striker
00:54to Harry Kane.
00:55Oh wow, is he really, Adam?
00:56Thank you so much for the insight, glad I clicked on that one.
00:58But this is his heat map from that game.
01:01He played about 66 minutes of it and what you will notice is that he looks like a centre-forward.
01:07One of England's major problems at the Euros which everybody picked up on was that Harry
01:11Kane was not aggressive enough as a centre-forward.
01:14His game is built around playing in possession-based sides where he drops off, he gets involved,
01:19he creates small pockets of space for other players to run into, but for a national side
01:24that is full of players who want to be on the front foot, who want to press high, he's
01:28a bad fit.
01:29Ollie Watkins, however, is not a bad fit.
01:32He's got far more energy to him, he does a lot more running, he gets into the channels,
01:36he stretches defences, he pulls them back and then he allows players to get up the pitch
01:40behind him.
01:41And that already brings us to the very crux of what Lee Cartley's system was for winning
01:47this game and that was, in a few words, just f***ing get at them.
01:53If you watched it, it probably jumped out at you that England looked a lot less controlled
01:56and a lot less comfortable in possession than they normally do, but crucially, they were
02:01really going at Greece in one-on-one situations and in trying to get in behind.
02:06Cartley's plan here was to make England sort of look like they were going to be nervous
02:09and ponderous in possession at the back and then really quickly move the ball up the pitch
02:14and give us attacking players space to drive into.
02:16Like, it was actually quite refreshing to watch, I think, because there wasn't any sort
02:20of real attempt to dominate the ball at the back and sort of unpick a really elaborate
02:25press.
02:26They just split Walker, they split Lewis and when they did have the ball, it then fell
02:28to either Gallagher or Jones to drop in to these areas, draw the press towards them,
02:34taking them away from one of the centre-backs or away from one of the full-backs so they
02:38could then really quickly get it into Bellingham, get it into Gordon, get it into Mandueke,
02:42get it into Watkins.
02:44The very first thing England do in this game is they use Curtis Jones to sort of magnetise
02:48the press towards them.
02:50When that happens, he gives it to Rico Lewis, who immediately finds Anthony Gordon on the
02:54byline and his instinct is not then to check back, see where Bellingham is, can he bring
02:58the midfield into play, he just gets at him.
03:01He gets the ball, he's got the full-back on Baklava, he gets to the byline, cuts it back
03:05and England are actually pretty unfortunate not to get a goal from that.
03:08But it's just such a good idea this, it doesn't take very long to bear fruit, does it?
03:12This time they use Conor Gallagher to draw all the Greek pressure towards him, he gets
03:16that back out to Walker and you can see, even from his body language, he's like, oh,
03:20we've done it, we've done it, I've got to find one of the attackers and he gets it into
03:23Mandueke.
03:24And what you see next isn't tactical or instructional but it is what I thought an England side under
03:30Lee Carsey would end up looking like.
03:32Bellingham takes it upon himself to come out and help him, there's a clever little flick,
03:35Bellingham puts it round the corner and then you see that instruction of fucking go and
03:41get at them.
03:42But freedom, a little bit before that, it's just not really something we've seen from
03:46England in a very long time.
03:48And then of course, just like Anthony Gordon, he's not worried about getting to the edge
03:51of the box and waiting for everyone to join him and penning the opposition in, he just
03:55gets to the byline, pulls that ball back and there's your goal.
03:58And then just from there, for all the spells where England were dominant in this game,
04:02that's what they were looking to do.
04:04Like this one's a few minutes later, you draw the press with the midfield, it then gives
04:08you a bit of space to work and you go straight into the attackers.
04:11You then bypass Jones and Gallagher.
04:14They're able to get the ball straight into Anthony Gordon, who again just gets straight
04:18at the Greek defence, but this time he loses the ball in doing so and England come under
04:22a little bit of pressure, which is why you don't tend to see this style of football from
04:27a team as good as England particularly often, because it's a lot less precise, it's a lot
04:31less controlled.
04:32Greece had a really good spell in the first half that came about because by playing this
04:37way, England couldn't get on top of them.
04:40You're relying so heavily on the individual 1v1 qualities of all of your attackers and
04:46even like a really good success rate in that regard is only like, what, 50, 60%?
04:51You're still going to lose the ball an awful lot.
04:54What we got though was an England team playing with a degree of freedom that we don't normally
04:57associate with England at an international level.
05:00It was really interesting watching all the players make these little decisions as the
05:04game went on.
05:05Like Rico Lewis wasn't supposed to invert, but he's very good in the middle and he would
05:08occasionally find himself in there, which enabled Jones or Gallagher to push up into
05:13the forward line.
05:14And likewise, Jude Bellingham as well would occasionally drop much deeper into those areas,
05:18giving Gallagher and giving Jones the license to push forward.
05:21Like Jones' goal, my God, my pants were practically off watching that, but in the post-match interview
05:26when he was getting asked about it, that was the first thing he said.
05:29Like Jude was sitting and sort of gave him the encouragement to push forward and get
05:33involved.
05:34That was the sort of on-pitch rotation that Greece would have struggled to defend against.
05:38But just hang on one second there, Adam, you little scamp.
05:42Didn't you say the part of the reason they were able to play this sort of aggressively
05:45and openly was because they had Ollie Watkins and not Harry Kane?
05:49Well, then why were England struggling?
05:52Why was it only 1-0 until they hooked Watkins, I'm gonna have to go get that back, and brought
05:57Kane on instead?
05:58Found it.
05:59Well, that is because, and you may be familiar with the terminology people are starting to
06:03use, of the concept of starters and finishers.
06:07You can't even say substitutes anymore, your uncle will definitely be saying around the
06:11Christmas dinner table this year.
06:13This is Greece's average positions map, right, and you can see straight away that's so disciplined,
06:20that's so structured, that is a 4-2-3-1 clear as day, virtually nobody breaking out of that
06:25shape and the centre forward's just in a weird spot because he wasn't really getting on the
06:29ball very much.
06:30It's the overwhelming majority of games that England play will be against lesser teams
06:35than them, that don't expect to have the ball, that don't expect to be able to get on top,
06:40that want to stifle what they do and then punish them in transitions and in the space
06:46behind.
06:47And as we have already illustrated in this video, but I'll do it again because there
06:50was just absolutely loads of examples, the single best way to break down a well-structured,
06:56disciplined team who have a nice mid-block like this that doesn't want you to play through
07:00them is dribbling, get at them, go one-on-one, break open their structure with individual
07:07quality.
07:08And England, as you saw last night, have loads of players who are capable of playing this
07:12way, of coaxing out the press a little bit to create a little bit of room, but then still
07:16pressing as high and aggressively as you can in the final third to stretch the opposition
07:21and go very quickly up the pitch.
07:24But that is absolutely not Harry Kane's game anymore, if it ever was at all, because the
07:30point I'm trying to make is why England were better when Kane came on.
07:33And I appreciate I have started by telling you why England are worse when Kane is on
07:38the pitch, but that is because, write this down, game state.
07:43England had the lead, but Greece had a really good spell at the end of the first half and
07:46they were having decent enough chances in the second half.
07:49They were not sitting in a really disciplined, compact shape, stopping England play through
07:54the middle.
07:55They were taking more and more risks.
07:57They were leaving more and more room.
07:59And in that situation, when a team is stepping out and giving you these opportunities, then
08:05someone like Harry Kane is actually incredibly useful.
08:07Annoyingly, the best example of this in the whole game, the stadium director cut to a
08:12close-up of a Greek player as he was doing it.
08:15But what happens is when the opposition come out and they're going to leave those spaces,
08:19then all of a sudden, having a centre-forward who'll drop allows you to do the exact same
08:23thing that Jones and Gallagher were doing further up the pitch.
08:26They can then draw all the attention towards them and because you're not doing that on
08:31the edge of the box or when there's no room in behind, you're doing it in the middle part
08:35of the pitch, you can play people in.
08:36Like, I'm just going to have to use a still here and you'll take my word for it, right?
08:40These are a load of players who've been attracted to Harry Kane when they should be here, here
08:45and here.
08:46You don't have to play out from that, you've just moved that sort of nice press-bait-slash-magnet
08:51further up the pitch.
08:52And that just isn't really going to happen at 0-0, like, this is a situation specifically
08:57tailored for Kane and, whisper it, but that is probably how they should use him going
09:03forward.
09:04Delighted Carsley had the balls to do that in his last two games.
09:07But anyway, just to get back to my main point, which was that Lee Carsley somehow invented
09:12running in this game.
09:14Do you remember where the two other England goals came from?
09:16They've got it at the back, the build-up is patient, but now Greece really do need to
09:20try and get at them.
09:21And once again, Curtis Jones is the magnet for the press.
09:25They all get drawn towards him and that allows England to play another really nice, clever,
09:31tricky, direct 1-2 up the pitch that puts Jude Bellingham in.
09:36And the most important part of that goal happens off-camera, so it's quite difficult to appreciate.
09:40Because England are being really aggressive and pushing up on Greece and stretching them
09:44out across the pitch, it means that when Rodgers drops all the way into this area, nobody's
09:49going to go with him, they're not going to abandon their back line and just go chasing
09:53players around.
09:54That's insane.
09:55But it gives them the ability to bang 1-2 into Bellingham and they're in.
09:59And then the third goal, the exact same thing again, bait, bait, bait, bait, bait, draw
10:02them in, draw them in, draw them in.
10:04You're not actually trying to gently work it through them, you're trying to create a
10:07space in behind the press that you can get at them in.
10:11And Bellingham's like, all right, come on then.
10:14There's total arrogance in what he's doing here.
10:16He's like, come on then, I'm in the area you want to press, come and get me.
10:20And as soon as they do, he just flicks it out, not really probably even looking where
10:24it's going, and Gibbs White gets it in all this room.
10:28And then what does he do?
10:29He f***ing gets at them.
10:32And something that is really, really notable to me about that third goal, because it's
10:35going to get praised for weeks and ever.
10:39And I think it's probably one of the best goals Curtis Jones is ever going to score.
10:42That is two players, Morgan Gibbs White and Curtis Jones, playing with a great degree
10:47of positional freedom, doing something incredible with the football.
10:51They're two players that were in Carsley's under-21 Euro squad that just didn't really
10:56have positions, just had flexibility, just played with total freedom.
11:00And I think you saw a little glimpse of what the future of England might look like in
11:05that game, because so many of those players, regardless of who the manager is, are going
11:08to get into this team.
11:09And that's what they're capable of doing.
11:12They don't want to get carried away like it's only Greece, but exciting, isn't it?
11:17And that's it.
11:18Honestly, there's nothing any more complicated than that.
11:21Lee Carsley knew he had the players at his disposal to play a really direct running style
11:26at Greece and then set them up at the back in a way that was going to give them the best
11:30possible opportunities to go and do it.
11:33It's not a controlled way to play football, hence why it swung back and forward and Greece
11:36had really good spells, but it is, if you do it right, really effective.
11:41I liked it.
11:42Basically, more running, more footballers should run.
11:46That's what you used to do on the playground, isn't it, when you got it?
11:49Just head down, don't look for a pass, just get at somebody.
11:52It's what it should be.
11:53But yeah, that's it.
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12:02My socials are here and huge, big, exciting news this week.
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12:15happening that I would dearly love to tell you about.
12:18Let us know in the comments what you thought of the England performance.
12:20Are you excited for Tuchel?
12:21Will they still play this way?
12:22Would you secretly, like me, have liked to have seen Lee Carsley just bring the under
12:2720 ones and have like one tournament with them?
12:31Or if not, just tell me, I don't mind.
12:33And just before I go, can I just say one thing really quickly to any of you that have stuck
12:36with the video thus far, you're my favourites, right?
12:40The weather out there, that is starting to turn, that is not kind, that is battering
12:45every single one of us.
12:46And men especially, because I know we don't do this, go and get some lip balm and go and
12:51get some moisturiser and properly take care of yourself, because that will, that will
12:56savage you out there, and we always think we're above this stuff.
12:59This is Strawberry Carmex, and it's really, it's been really good, that's, that's my top
13:03tip for you, that's the life advice I'm imparting, now, er, goodbye, goodbye, that was it.
13:14That is luxury itself in my opinion, goodbye.