Conor Gallagher sends message to England boss Lee Carsley after Greece horror show

Lee Carsley employed an attacking England lineup against Greece, albeit without a striker, but saw the Three Lions look vulnerable in defence and now they must bounce back against Finland

It has only taken Conor Gallagher two months working under Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid to understand that there’s more than one way to win a game of football.

Gallagher, 24, watched from the substitutes’ bench on Thursday night as Lee Carsley’s bid to give England what it demanded from Gareth Southgate by unleashing the attacking talents of Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Anthony Gordon in tandem was brutally exposed by Greece at Wembley.

Gallagher moved to Atletico in a £34million deal in August after it was made clear that he was no longer wanted at Chelsea, the club he joined at the age of six. He has settled in quickly under Simeone, the Argentine coach who believes that the virtue of defensive discipline must always come first.

If Carsley is tempted to bring some hard running and doggedness into his team when England face Finland, then Gallagher may be his man. “I don’t think anyone should be worried,” was Gallagher’s assessment of a 2-1 defeat that puts the Three Lions’ hopes of Nations League promotion in serious doubt and left more questions than answers about whether Carsley is the man to take the country forward.

"Of course the performance was not good enough by our standards, but you have to give a lot of credit to Greece because they performed very well, and we didn’t. We deserved to lose.

"We need to look at where we need to improve and be better - and take it into the next game. It’s new working with Cars. He's the new manager and is implementing his own ideas. Training has been great and the first two games under him were great as well.

"Unfortunately it wasn’t as good (against Greece) as what we would have liked. But we have to stay positive and confident because we know how good we can be and we look to put it right in the next game.

"Greece, made it difficult for us to create chances and score.We got done on the counter attack a few times, which maybe we could have been better at.

"When you look at the whole match, overall we weren’t at it and weren’t good enough. That’s all you can really say.”

Gallagher was diplomatic when he was asked if England could do with a touch of the Diegos. But his performances in La Liga are earning rave reviews and it’s clear that he feels working with Simeone will improve him as a player.

Gallagher said: “Diego is massive on defensive discipline, being strong, in the right position and organised. It’s really important.

"We had a lot of the ball and maybe we weren’t so organised when we gave the ball away, which was something Greece managed to capitalise on. It’s somewhere we can improve and we have amazing players in the squad that can do that. Everyone is still confident and excited.

"Maybe some tiny changes need to happen but you only have to look how close we’ve been in the last few tournaments. We didn’t get there by mistake. We got there because the lads won big games and we performed against the top teams.

“We’ve just come up short a few times, but hopefully in the near future it will come. Philosophies change for every game against different opponents - that’s football.

"What I do know is that we’ve got world-class players who can create and score chances and we’re really lucky to have them in our team.”

Gallagher added: “I am really enjoying it in Spain, in fact loving it. It’s an amazing experience and I’m really enjoying working with the manager and the club has been fantastic.

"I think it will help me to develop. It’s a massive club, in one of the best leagues in the world. It’s different to the Premier League - but that is what will help me improve as a player."

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