Lee Carsley gives the FA a needless reason to overlook him in future

First off, an apology. Around this time yesterday, Football Daily may have suggested that while the Nations League was a tournament devised to eliminate pointless one-sided international friendlies and instead pit national teams of similar ability against each other, the England team was far too good to be muddying their spats in its second tier. The impression that we expected them to swat a distracted and distraught Greece team aside, in the process boosting Lee Carsley’s chances of being offered the role of full-time manager, was conveyed. In the face of incontrovertible evidence presented over 95 minutes at Wembley, we are happy to concede that we were wrong on both counts and would like to unreservedly apologise to readers for these errors in judgment. In our defence, however, we would like to point out that unlike assorted others, our nonsensical ramblings were written and published before the game.

Since its conclusion, we couldn’t help but notice that a few pundits and press-box grandees have used the fairly brutal beatdown dished out by Greece as a spiked baseball bat with which to mercilessly batter observers who had previously opined that the reason England never won any shiny pots under Gareth Southgate was down to the belt-and-braces approach adopted by the former manager that verged on extreme caution. “SEE!” wrote his acolytes. “THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU LET THE HANDBRAKE OFF!!! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND IN A BID TO APPEASE KNOW-NOTHING BARSTOOL BOZOS WHO DON’T APPRECIATE THE IMPORTANCE OF TEAM STRUCTURE!!!”

Which is all well and good, of course, except as Football Daily recalls, most of the aforementioned bozos were happy enough with Southgate’s team selections but just wanted the players he picked to stop constantly and slowly passing the ball backwards and sideways. At no point were any but the most deranged of them calling on Southgate to field two attacking full-backs, two wingers, three No 10s and no striker. Of course, while defeat in a Nations League match doesn’t really amount to a hill of beans for England, Thursday’s omni-shambles in which Greece scored two, had the ball in the net five times and another effort acrobatically hooked off the line could have a detrimental effect on Carsley’s chances of getting the gig on a full-time basis. One loss shouldn’t torpedo his chances of succeeding Southgate, but in seeing his selection gamble backfire so spectacularly, the interim manager has needlessly given the FA a reason to overlook him when the time comes to name a new boss. Assuming, that is, the former Republic of Ireland player actually wants the job.

“My remit has been clear,” he explained after the game, upon being asked if he thought he’d made a pig’s ear of his audition. “I’m doing three camps, there’s three games left and then hopefully I’ll be going back to the [under-] 21s.” Asked the same question in a slightly different way on two further occasions, Carsley gave the same answer in a slightly different way. “The remit was clear,” he repeated for those hard of hearing. “I’m comfortable and confident with that. After the first camp I didn’t get too excited or believe too much. I’m very aware that this job is one of the best jobs in the world.” Next stop Helsinki on Sunday, where anything less than a win will almost certainly end whatever chance he has of finding out just how unpleasant it can really be.

Join Scott Murray from 7.45pm BST for hot Nations League MBM coverage of Iceland 0-0 Wales.

“When I went to Chelsea it all happened. We were in a hotel a long time, things weren’t going so well at the kids’ school, we got burgled … It was Brazil-Serbia, during the World Cup. My wife went into the bedroom and found them. It wasn’t nice; we went back to a hotel because we were scared. Then I was in hospital for three days. I wanted to play but wasn’t in good shape. It’s experience too: until it happens to you, you don’t know how you’ll react” – Spain cult hero Marc Cucurella chats with Sid Lowe about the layoff that revived his career, not taking football too seriously and Chelsea’s resurgence.

My elder son and his business sponsored George Baldock for the last two seasons and, as a consequence, we got to know George a bit. We have been season-ticket holders at Bramall Lane for many seasons and I have supported the Blades for more than 70 years. With George, you got a full-on performance: quick, determined, strong in the tackle, two good feet and very good in the air. We liked him and, like many of our supporters, feel very shocked at this awful news. May he rest in peace” – Peter Caldwell.

Couldn’t agree more with yesterday’s Football Daily about one-sided Nations League games. Greece really should find opposition that plays at their level and stop picking up easy wins against weaker teams” – Chris Ware.

Yesterday’s Memory Lane image of Margaret Thatcher (full email edition) induced a different rather sour memory for this Blackburn Rovers supporter, recalling that she was for a number of years ‘honorary vice-president’ of my club. When it was suggested that a minute’s silence be observed at Ewood Park in the game following her death, the club decided against the idea. I suspect it would probably have been one of the noisier minute’s silences” – John Myles.

Send letters to [email protected]. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Chris Ware, who lands our last copy for now of The Football Weekly Book. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.

Bill Shankly’s last Liverpool team, the winners of the 1973 First Division title, that year’s Uefa Cup and the 1974 FA Cup, featured a classic Scottish player in the shape of Peter Cormack, whose death at the age of 78 has been announced. Cormack’s talents, his supreme fitness and his hang-time heading ability were well known by the time he arrived at Anfield in 1972. At Hibernian, he had been nurtured by Jock Stein, making his Scotland debut at 19 before two years at Nottingham Forest. Injury prevented him becoming a full part of the post-Shanks Bob Paisley era; Cormack eventually left for Bristol City before returning to Hibs to form a short-lived, ill-fated double act with George Best. His name rings out from the era of David Coleman in the commentary box, the Spion Kop swaying as Cormack glided around in tandem with the likes of Kevin Keegan, Emlyn Hughes and John Toshack. RIP.

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“You’ve got to use your heads, you play football with your heads.” Reports suggest managers and assistants could get their chance to emulate Graham Taylor with Jim Rosenthal, when the Premier League legislates mandatory half-time interviews to bolster their funky content provision from next season. What could possibly go wrong?

Nations League corner: Italy have been held 2-2 by Belgium, blowing a two-goal lead and Lorenzo Pellegrini getting sent off; Christopher Nkunku is off the mark as a France scorer after their 4-1 thumping of Israel; and Euro 2016’s Robbie Brady is the toast of Ireland, striking late to secure a 2-1 win on the road over Finland, Heimir Hallgrímsson’s first in charge.

Argentina have drawn 1-1 with Venezuela in Air Miles World Cup qualifying on a sodden pitch. “It was an ugly match,” sniffed Lionel Messi. “We couldn’t even make two passes in a row, the ball stopped because of the water on the pitch. It is difficult to play in these conditions.” Defender Rodrigo De Paul added: “The best conditions for us to play is that there is a good pitch, good weather, that the ball runs. We don’t ask for much, do we?”

Brazil are breathing a sigh of relief after snagging a last-gasp 2-1 win in Chile.

Former Portugal and Newcastle midfielder Hugo Viana, 2002’s European Golden Boy, will replace Txiki Begiristain as sporting director, first working alongside him at Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s future remains opaque.

And Nottingham Forest have been fined a mighty £750,000 for their social media disgrace post that accused Stuart Attwell, the VAR in their game with Luton Town last season, of being a Hatters fan. The club had ambitiously denied that the comments brought the game into disrepute by implying bias and/or questioning the integrity of match officials. “We are particularly concerned that the FA, in its submissions, sought a sanction ‘in excess of [£1m]’,” sniffed Forest. “We believe that this request, along with the subsequent fine, is wholly disproportionate and the club will be appealing the decision.”

“We got the England of everything everywhere all at once.” Barney Ronay on Lee Carsley’s weird tactical reinvention.

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And here’s Ewan Murray on Scotland’s Andy Irving, the Portobello Pirlo.

To the 2014 World Cup opening ceremony and Mr Worldwide himself, Pitbull, no doubt performing the tournament’s official anthem We Are One (Ola Ola). “I truly believe that this great game and the power of music will help unify us, because we are best when we are one,” he parped. Heady days indeed.