Interim head coach Lee Carsley could only equivocate over his future after his experimental England side were humbled at home with a 2-1 defeat to Greece at Wembley.

A second-half double from Vangelis Pavlidis was enough to condemn Carsley to his first defeat as head coach in just his third match at the helm.

Jude Bellingham looked to have salvaged a point when he struck three minutes from time only for Pavlidis to add to his earlier strike at the death to earn an historic victory for his country.

It was a well-deserved defeat for the Three Lions at Wembley, with Carsley's new all-out attack system duly punished by the Greeks, who now sit top of the UEFA Nations League B group.

Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, and Cole Palmer all started alongside wingers Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka, with Bellingham deployed as a false nine for much of the contest but the wealth of attacking riches did not result in the free-flowing football Carsley and many others had hoped for.

Instead, England struggled to control what proved to be a laborious contest for the hosts and endured an 84 minute gap between shots on target.

It brought a crashing end to Carsley's honeymoon in the role after two strong wins against Ireland and Finland in September but the interim boss offered only a politician's answer when pressed on the impact of the defeat on his chances of getting the job permanently.

He said: "I was quite surprised after the last camp in terms of ‘the job’s mine, it’s mine to lose’ and all the rest of it. 

"My remit has been clear from the start; I am doing three camps, there’s three games left and then hopefully I will be going back to the [under] 21s. It has almost no impact.

"I said at the start I wouldn’t rule myself in or out. That’s still the case. I am more than comfortable in my position where I am. The remit was clear, I am comfortable and confident with that. 

"After the first camp, I definitely didn’t get too excited. Nothing has changed in that respect. My remit was to do the three camps and then hand over."

Carsley will certainly hope Thursday night's performance will not bear too heavily on any decision if he has put himself in the running, with his side devoid of the creativity he desired from putting so many attackers on the pitch at once.

A hectic start, that saw Bellingham force a strong save out of Odysseas Vlachodimos before Levi Colwill was forced into an acrobatic goal line clearance, underlined the lack of control England endured throughout and Cole Palmer firing over from close range in the first-half was the only true chance England fashioned until Bellingham curled home what appeared to be an equaliser.

The jury remains out on Bellingham's stint as a false nine in the absence of Harry Kane, and Carsley's approach, with the interim head coach implying it could be seen again in future matches.

"With the players that we have got, we have got to be courageous at times with our systems and be creative," he added. 

"I could have quite easily have gone with a recognised nine, we had two on the bench, but I thought it was important to try something different. 

"At this stage as well, coming off the last two games, I never at any point thought that I had it cracked. It was a case of let’s try something different. 

"I am happy to take blame for that, it was totally my idea. I thought about it long and hard about how it might look, how it might build, how it might feel. 

"It is something that probably didn’t come off tonight, it definitely didn’t, but I don’t think we should rule out having that opportunity to try something different. 

"One of the challenges we have got is we have probably got three or four number tens who are very capable of playing there. It was a case of trying to be a little bit creative with what we did.

"I don’t think we had as much control of the game as we have in the last two games. I am really reluctant on getting too down on the players, we have still got a lot of belief in the squad. They are an outstanding squad and hopefully respond well in the next game."