Stoke City may have paid close attention to England's Greece embarrassment: View | OneFootball

Lee Carsley held talks to take the job at the Bet365 Stadium before they appointed Steven Schumacher.

Key Takeaways

Stoke City reportedly met with current England interim manager Lee Carsley last year, before appointing Steven Schumacher as their new boss.

The man who had an impressive 80% win record as manager of England's under-21s at the time was viewed as one of the front-runners to take the helm in Stoke-On-Trent.

The Potters opted for another candidate, but they will have been keeping a close eye on how the Three Lions' caretaker boss, who was in charge of the recent embarrassment against Greece, gets on.

England's embarrassment turned heads on Thursday

Many England supporters were looking forward to a new era, after the departure of long-serving manager Gareth Southgate, following back-to-back final defeats at the European Championships.

However, it seems to be the same old story for the Three Lions under interim boss Carsley, who could've been in the running to take the job permanently before Thursday's poor result. With an admission that he hopes to return to the under-21s, it seems the man in temporary charge has ruled himself out of the running for the permanent job.

Carsley is yet to fully experience a job in senior management, with a short spell at Brentford almost ten years ago and a few caretaker jobs at Birmingham City and Coventry City being his only ventures at that level, excluding his England gig, of course.

England fielded a strong side on Thursday night, but Carsley opted to play Jude Bellingham as a false-nine despite having two recognised strikers in the squad. This rather adventurous approach has seen the Irishman come under fire.

The game was a disaster. England were totally outclassed by a Greece side that fully deserved their victory. Without a recognised striker on the pitch, the Three Lions were a disjointed mess.

The attacking lineup proved to be a poor choice by Carsley, as Greece knocked on the door constantly throughout the game. Vangelis Pavlidis scored early in the second half, then won it in stoppage time after Bellingham thought he'd spare England's blushes.

The worst part was 2-1 was flattering on England, as the away team had the ball in the net a total of five times, but three were disallowed due to offside.

After Carsley's pretty uninspiring tenure so far, Stoke might just be breathing a sigh of relief that they opted against appointing the current England boss.

Shock sacking puts Stoke back to square one

As mentioned above, the Potters settled on Plymouth Argyle manager Steven Schumacher to be the man to take the club forward over Carsley. Sadly, this wouldn't be the case, as he was sacked at the start of the 2024/25 season.

This came as a shock to City fans, as the 40-year-old was seen as a long-term project. Even Schumacher himself admitted that he was shocked to be told he'd lost his job in a statement released after the sacking.

Under the former Plymouth manager, despite starting slowly, the Potters managed to pick up enough points to just steer clear of the relegation zone. Whilst a 17th place finish wasn't what would've been anticipated, Schumacher did the most important job of avoiding dropping into League One.

The opening five matches of the 2024/25 season were a mixed bag, with two victories and three defeats. It was far from an awful start to the season, but Jon Walters had decided he'd seen enough after a late defeat to Oxford United.

After being given the summer to build his squad, Schumacher had just five games with it, which seemed like a wasted transfer window. Stoke have replaced the ex-midfielder with Narcis Pelach, who has scored just four points in his first four games. When you look at what Schumacher was sacked for, that makes the dismissal seem even more harsh.

However, after two defeats to start life at the Bet365, a 6-1 thrashing of Portsmouth and a solid point on the road at Swansea City are potentially a sign of better things to come.

Despite winning his opening two games as England manager, the embarrassment on Thursday night has put a dampener on any positive feelings surrounding Carsley.

Things obviously didn't work out with Schumacher, as he didn't even last a year at the Bet365 Stadium before he was sacked. To add to this, many believe the decision to relieve him of his duties was far too harsh.

After watching their former managerial candidate fail to get what was expected with arguably the most talented generation of England players ever, the Potters might be feeling glad they didn't go for the Irishman last December.

Stoke are once again in a new era now under Pelach. The 36-year-old will look to be what his predecessor was meant to be, the long-term project that can steer the club back to the top flight of English football.

All in all, Stoke will be monitoring Carsley's performance at the helm of the national team. Whilst he's only played three matches so far, winning two of them, it just seems unlikely there will be any regrets from Walters. The Potters need stability, and from Carsley's tenure so far, it suggests he could've brought them the complete opposite.

That being said, one experimental game doesn't prove Carsley to be a bad manager. His willingness to experiment at least shows that he's willing to adapt his ways to try new things, unlike Southgate. However, the end result was that poor, it left fans totally stunned.