Mark Langdon: Balance the key to international success

The Nations League is the right time to experiment with new ideas but for Lee Carsley the gamble to tinker to extreme levels could have cost him his chance to become England's next full-time manager following the humbling 2-1 loss to Greece at Wembley.

Interim boss Carsley, a 1-5 shot pre-game to get the England job permanently, has drifted to 7-4 and there is no other way to dress up his team selection on Thursday other than to say it was a total shambles, with his substitutions also raising alarm bells regarding his suitability to the role. 

England went from playing a striker-less formation to something not far short of 4-4-effing-2 by the final whistle as the positive vibes created by the recent wins over Ireland and Finland dissipated in quite spectacular fashion.

Some pundits have suggested this is what fans asked for in the Gareth Southgate era but that's not true. When people called for Harry Kane to be dropped it was for Ollie Watkins; when people asked for Phil Foden to be moved centrally it was because there was no left-footed full-back to go around the outside. I don't recall any supporter asking for Foden and Jude Bellingham to be played as false nines, or for Cole Palmer to be selected in a deep midfield role alongside Declan Rice.

In theory this was the right time to try something different, but there's different and there was this different with Carsley not helping himself afterwards by suggesting he experimented with the new formation for just 20 minutes in training on Wednesday.

Two shots on target in 90 minutes highlighted the carnage caused by Carsley's team selection, although the scoreboard did a good enough job of that as Greece took control of League B Group 2. Not gaining promotion back to the top 16 teams would presumably kill any hopes Carsley had of himself being promoted from the Under-21s and he made the ultimate mistake any international boss can do: picking the best players rather than a balanced team.

Spain are the European champions and they had wonderful balance last summer. 

The 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 was clearly defined with square pegs in square holes and every played used in their normal club positions, while world and South American champions Argentina only became successful when they realised they could not play too many of their star-studded forwards. They won the World Cup with Lautaro Martinez and Paulo Dybala on the bench in 2022, whereas if you go back to 2006, Brazil tried and failed to mould their magic quartet of Ronaldinho, Kaka, Ronaldo and Adriano into a cohesive starting line-up.

Carsley now finds himself not even favourite with some bookmakers for a job that seemed his for the taking at the start of the week and should he miss out it would be one hell of a lesson learned on the importance of maintaining balance above star names.

Industry insiders said there was "good money" for Thomas Tuchel in the aftermath of the Greece upset, with whispers suggesting he has been in loose dialogue with the Football Association. Those rumours could be convenient for Tuchel, who is also favourite for the Manchester United job, and might just be giving a nudge to the Old Trafford bigwigs for them to get a move on if they do want to replace Erik Ten Hag.

Spain (Luis de la Fuente) and Argentina (Lionel Scaloni) have shown you don't need a superstar manager such as Tuchel or Pep Guardiola to succeed at international level, so it would be crazy to rule out Carsley on the back of one bad game, but the starting point for Sunday's trip to Finland should be to pick players in their right positions at the expense of the biggest names.

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