Jordan Pickford insists England were “not far off” being a well-balanced team in Thursday night's defeat by Greece at Wembley.
Interim manager Lee Carsley picked an unusual formation in which he did not start a conventional striker, and it backfired as England lost 2-1 to the Greeks to bring his 100 per cent winning run to an end.
Carsley admitted he “might have gone down a different route” if Harry Kane had been fit, but he was not able to select his captain due to a knock Kane picked up on Bayern Munich duty in the Bundesliga last weekend.
Kane was assessed on Friday and a decision will be made as to whether he can play a part in Sunday’s next Nations League match against Finland in Helsinki.
“Not the ideal night,” goalkeeper Pickford said. “We’ve got to regroup and look at what we could have done better.
“I think they caught us out a bit, but we knew they were going to have transitions and it's about us getting back into shape. We did it large parts of the evening, and a couple of times we got caught.
“Now we’ve just got to go and win away on Sunday against Finland and in the next camp beat Greece away and Ireland at home.”
England cannot afford to drop more points if they are to return to Nations League A, as only the top side from each four-team group earns automatic promotion. Greece currently lead England by three points in Group B2.
“We haven't had long,” said Pickford. “Neither have Greece, obviously. But we've not had long to get ourselves ready. Everyone has played a lot of games over the last month. The manager and the staff have got to manage the lads’ loads.”
Pickford was asked whether Carsley had bowed to the public’s desire to see more attacking players selected in England lineups — a hangover from criticism of previous manager Gareth Southgate’s perceived tactical caution.
“That social media side I never look at,” he said. “On the pitch you know, I'm just solely focused on the game. We want to give the fans enjoyment but also be solid at the back, keep clean sheets and give that platform to go and let the attacking style come out on top.”
Asked whether England were unbalanced without a striker against Greece until Ollie Watkins came off the bench on the hour mark, Pickford replied: “We weren't far off. It was only those two or three transitions where we got caught. Apart from that we controlled it. It’s about how we get ready for the next one now.”
