Jordan Pickford makes bizarre claim in wake of England’s humiliation at Wembley

Jordan Pickford claimed the football England played in their embarrassing defeat to Greece at Wembley was “good” and that Lee Carsley’s controversial system worked well for large parts of the game.

   And the Everton goalkeeper, whose own performances have been notably erratic, made one of the understatements of the season when he said: “I think we were a bit open.”

   As one of the senior players and a member of the management team, Pickford, 30, faced the music after the stunning defeat but refused to admit it was one of England’s worst performances for a long time.    Pickford said: “Sometimes in football it gets a bit weird because a couple of bad passes actually get you out and force us to start counter quickly – and Greece did that a couple of times.

   “They played the long ball and probably got second balls more than us and that might have been the difference. But the football we played was good. We weren’t far behind. We only stuck to two or three passes. Other than that, we  controlled.

   “We knew they were going to have transitions and it’s about getting back into shape. And we did that big night and got caught a few times.”

   A few times?    The Greeks divided England several times because they failed to cope with Carsley’s tactics.    The interim England manager admitted they only had 20 minutes on the training pitch to work on his game, while Pickford confirmed the build-up was far from ideal, saying: “We didn’t have a long time to prepare. People played  v on Sunday, so they had to recover properly, because they all played a lot of games in the last month.”

   But Pickford knows England must bounce back in Helsinki this weekend.    He continued: “It’s never nice for a player or staff to be beaten at Wembley. The manager has picked the team and we just have to try and execute the game plan.

   “It didn’t quite go our way and we were beaten. Now we just have to win on Sunday against Finland and then the next camp in Greece away and Ireland at home.”

   And Pickford also hinted that he agrees with the obvious finding that the team will need a bit more balance in the final three games of their Nations League campaign.    He said: “We want to give the fans enjoyment but we also want to be solid at the back, keep clean sheets and give that platform to go and let the attacking style come through at the top.”

   The line-up for the game in Finland is likely to be more conventional as Harry Kane returns to the squad.    “Harry is not top scorer for England and he has 100 caps to his name,” Pickford said.    “He leads by example and I think Harry will be in form on Sunday.”