Alan Shearer claims one England star will be ‘RAGING’ with Lee Carsley as ex-Three Lions captain insists player ‘should be knocking on the manager’s door’ after Greece snub
Former England captain Alan Shearer has insisted that Ollie Watkins has every right to be ‘raging’ after being left out of the starting XI for Thursday’s UEFA Nations League game against Greece.
Despite star striker Harry Kane being out injured, interim boss Lee Carsley named Watkins among his substitutes and began the game with a fluid formation featuring no traditional frontman.
Bukayo Saka, Anthony Gordon, Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden all started at Wembley before Watkins was introduced off the bench in the 60th minute.
England were 1-0 down when Watkins came on and eventually fell to a 2-1 defeat against a Greece side, who also had three goals disallowed for offside.
Watkins has netted 31 goals in 62 games for Aston Villa since the start of last season. He also scored one goal in three substitute appearances for England at Euro 2024 where he played the role of Kane’s understudy.
Interim England manager Lee Carsley saw his team lose 2-1 to Greece at Wembley on Thursday
Carsley’s starting XI in the Nations League loss to Greece did not include a traditional striker
Ollie Watkins finished Thursday’s match on the pitch after beginning the night on the bench
Reflecting on Thursday’s loss, Shearer said on The Rest Is Football podcast: ‘You’d be absolutely raging if you were Ollie Watkins.
‘Your main man, or your main centre forward, is injured and you’ve been crying out for an opportunity. And when you’ve come on you’ve actually done alright, in terms of Watkins, and he’s doing well at club level.
‘Yet when Kane’s out, the manager comes to you and says: “I’m not going to play you tonight”, at home against Greece. “I’m going to try something different.”
‘He’s got every right to be [angry]. He should be knocking on his door tonight or tomorrow, saying: “I have to play the next game, if Kane’s not fit.”‘
Podcast host and fellow former Three Lions star Gary Lineker responded to Shearer by saying: ‘I’m not sure it works like that at international level. Did you ever knock on the international manager’s door and go, “I should be playing in this game”? It’s not like club football, is it?’
Shearer replied: ‘I knocked on Graham Taylor’s door when I was 19 or 20.’
A laughing Lineker hit back: ‘Did you? “Get Lineker out”, is that what you said?’
Shearer continued: ‘No, I just wanted to know if I was going to be in the squad or not. I don’t think it does any harm, you’re just asking the question.
‘You don’t have to be aggressive in the way you do it but, because the result has gone against them tonight and it’s backfired what the manager’s done, I think you’ve got every right to go and have a chat with him.’
Watkins entered the action on 60 minutes when he was subbed on for Anthony Gordon (left)
Former England captain Alan Shearer has said that Watkins should be ‘raging’ with Carsley
Gary Lineker (pictured) discussed England’s defeat by Greece with Shearer on Thursday night
Shearer then went on to admit that Carsley does not have an easy job picking the England team, and he compared his current selection ‘dilemma’ to the famous ‘Scholes, Gerrard, Lampard’ situation of the 2000s.
‘It’s a similar thing,’ Shearer explained. ‘You’ve got these brilliant, amazing players and you’re thinking: “How are we going to get them all into the team?”
‘Well, sometimes all of them don’t work. Sometimes you have to make big decisions and maybe leave one out, or two out.’
