1 week Ago By [email protected] (Dan Marsh, Steve Wollaston)
Former Birmingham City star Jude Bellingham echoed Harry Kane's sentiments regarding the players who pulled out of England duty this week, following the 3-0 victory over Greece. The Three Lions went into Thursday night's pivotal match in Athens with the knowledge that only a win would put them in pole position to clinch their Nations League group, after last month's unexpected defeat to Ivan Jovanovic's team at Wembley. Ollie Watkins gave England an early advantage, setting the tone for Lee Carsley's side.
England added two more goals after half-time - an own goal from Odysseas Vlachodimos and a debut goal from Curtis Jones - to regain the top spot in Group B2. Carsley had faced a challenging lead-up to the game with as many as NINE England stars pulling out of the squad. This prompted Kane to voice his frustrations in a pre-match interview, stating: "I think England comes before anything.
It comes before club and it is the most important thing you play as a professional footballer." Read More Related Articles Knighthead confirm Birmingham City full takeover timeline Read More Related Articles Borussia Dortmund target Bellingham transfer repeat - and Birmingham City could profit again "Gareth was on hot on that and he wasn't afraid and he wasn't afraid to make decisions if that started to drift from certain players." "It's a shame this week obviously.
Yeah, I think it's a tough period of the season and maybe that's been taken advantage of a little bit.", reports the Mirror . Bellingham hailed his teammates in a post-match chat, telling ITV Sport: "A lot was made of the lads that weren't here, but I think the lads that did show up were amazing.
Curtis [Jones] making his debut, scoring, playing as he did, amazing. Really proud of the boys tonight." Expressing pride in the squad's performance despite absentees, he added, "There would have been a million and one excuses if we didn't play well or didn't get over the line but the lads went out and did their business so professionally.
Back to the top of the group where we belong." Share your thoughts on how the Three Lions fared against Greece - join the debate here! Lee Carsley, set to hand over the reins to Thomas Tuchel after Sunday's game with Ireland, commended England's newcomers for making an impact and told ITV Sport: "It represents that we are moving in the right direction. We won't get too carried away, we have a big game on Sunday at Wembley.
" He focused on the positives, stressing, "It is just important the players played to their strengths. We have a lot of outstanding talent. The players that weren't here, we concentrated on the ones who were.
They took their opportunity today." Heaped praise on Curtis Jones, he remarked, "Curtis Jones is an outstanding player. He played really well, even without his goal.
With his goal it was an excellent performance." Addressing concerns about the squad's experience, Carsley noted, "People were speaking last night about the inexperience in the squad but these players are playing for their clubs at a really high level.".
