Greece 0-3 England: Curtis Jones nets delightful debut goal to seal impressive win as Three Lions take charge of Nations League group

No Phil Foden, no Jack Grealish, no Declan Rice, no Bukayo Saka, no Cole Palmer, no Trent Alexander-Arnold, no Levi Colwill, no Aaron Ramsdale, no Jarrad Branthwaite.

No Thomas Tuchel, either.

And, as it turned out, no problem.

Absolutely no problem. In fact, England’s 3-0 victory over Greece in the Olympic Stadium was their best performance of the year.

Tuchel, England’s new boss, did not think it worth attending, which is a shame because he would have been treated to an uplifting display of the youthful riches he is about to inherit.

Conjured by caretaker manager Lee Carsley, this was a hugely impressive display in the face of an epidemic of injury withdrawals that had cast a pall over England’s preparations for the match.

Jones’ flick capped off a fine individual display as England proved they could cope without a number of senior stars

Not for Carsley, though. He treated the withdrawals of senior players as an opportunity and he seized it. He dropped Harry Kane and started Ollie Watkins, who scored England’s opener.

And he gave debuts to Curtis Jones, Lewis Hall and Morgan Rogers. They all responded brilliantly. Noni Madueke was the man of the match and 19-year-old Rico Lewis was hugely impressive, too.

In the short term, the result put England back in control of their group and in pole position to be promoted to League A of the Nations League. They need to beat the Republic of Ireland at Wembley on Sunday to confirm that promotion.

The long-term implications of the result, though, were even more encouraging. This was a performance that underlined the depth of talent that will be at Tuchel’s disposal when he finally takes over on January 1.

Tuchel’s stated aim is to win the 2026 World Cup. This was the kind of performance that suggested, once more, England will be contenders. If he can bottle the same spirit that Carsley created here in a hostile environment, England’s prospects are bright.

Much of the build-up to the game had been dominated by the ever-lengthening list of absentees and by the reaction of Kane to the epidemic of withdrawals. ‘England comes before anything,’ Kane said. ‘It’s a shame this week…I don’t really like it if I’m totally honest.’

The plot thickened when Carsley left Kane out of the starting line-up, picking Watkins in his stead, and Kyle Walker, the replacement skipper, said before the match that he and his teammates had expected Kane to start.

When Kane is available, he usually plays so it was bold move by Carsley in his penultimate game in charge. If you make that kind of selection, you better win. Then again, Carsley only has one more game in charge. Maybe he figured he did not have a lot to lose.

Kane’s position in the starting line-up had come under scrutiny during the Euros last summer but Southgate stuck loyally by his captain. Carsley is not encumbered by the same loyalty and chose this game to act.

Ollie Watkins was on hand to fire England into an early lead from close range after being selected ahead of Harry Kane

He was perfectly placed to fire home after fine work down the right wing from Noni Madueke

Partly through necessity, partly because it has been his style since he became caretaker boss, Carsley trusted to youth in his team selection. He gave an overdue debut to Liverpool’s Curtis Jones and chose Noni Madueke and Anthony Gordon to play either side of Jude Bellingham in the advanced midfield three.

The stadium was packed to its 65,000 capacity and the atmosphere was raucous. If there is a certain indifference towards the Nations League in England, it was not shared by the home crowd. Emotions were heightened when the heroes of the Greek side that won Euro 2004 were paraded in front of the crowd before the game.

Greece were also buoyed by the recent memory of their first ever victory over England, their 2-1 win at Wembley last month, when Vangelis Pavlidis hit a late, late winner for the visitors.

But it took less than seven minutes for England to silence the crowd at the Olympic Stadium. Bellingham set Noni Madueke, who was making his first start, free down the England right, Madueke turned his full back inside out and cut the ball back for Watkins, who turned it past Odysseas Vlachodimos.

England remained in control of the game for the opening half an hour. Madueke, in particular, was a constant threat, Gordon caused problems on the other flank and Jones and Conor Gallagher controlled midfield.

But Greece began to creep back into the game and they should have equalised 15 minutes before the interval. Liverpool full-back Kostas Tsimikas ran on to a one-two and tried to blast the ball past Jordan Pickford at his near post. Pickford produced a fine save to keep it out.

Greece’s recovery was limited, though, and England might have gone further ahead at the end of the half. Rico Lewis played a fine through-ball to Watkins who sprinted clean through on goal. As he neared the area, the Aston Villa forward checked his stride and tried to cut inside but Konstantinos Koulierakis snuffed out the danger.

England began the second half strongly, too. Madueke, once more, was the main threat and he twisted the Greece defence out of shape to give Lewis space to shoot from close range. Vlachodimos made an instinctive reaction save to beat it away.

A minute later, Madueke seized on a half-cleared corner and swung a half-volleyed cross into the box. Bellingham glanced it towards goal, Vlachodimos was caught flat-footed and the ball bounced against the face of the far post and then away to safety.

Jude Bellingham strode through from midfield before firing a shot against the post

The ball rebounded into the net off the unfortunate Greek goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos

The own goal came at an important time for England after they had needed Jordan Pickford to step up amid mounting pressure from Greece

Greece pressed for the equaliser and Pickford produced a smart, diving save to push a shot from Fotis Ioannidis wide midway through the half. Greece coach Ivan Jovanovic danced a dance of frustration on the touchline.

Carsley brought Kane on for Watkins and 12 minutes from the end, England scored the second goal they needed. It was a terrific team move that was another mark of an impressive performance.

Hall started it deep in his own half, slipping a ball down the line to Rogers. Rogers swivelled and played a first-time ball to Bellingham and Bellingham ran at the Greece defence. He unleashed a low drive from the edge of the area that beat Vlachodimos and bounced off the post. The ball came back out, hit the back of the goalkeeper’s trailing leg and dribbled over the line.

England scored a third eight minutes from time when substitute Morgan Gibbs-White pulled the ball back to Jones and Jones produced an outrageous flick to send the ball across Vlachodimos and into the back of the net.