Roy Keane has singled out one England star who let the side down in the 2-1 defeat by Greece at Wembley – and has torn apart the Three Lions for an apathetic and prideless performance in his eyes. 

Greece were good value for their win on Thursday night and had the ball in England’s net on five occasions, though three of their goals were ruled out.

Vangelis Pavlidis scored both goals – including a 94th minute winner – to dampen the intrigue infused by a creative and attacking set-up laid on by Lee Carsley. 

All Keane saw was a soft belly to Greece’s benefit – and he had a bone to pick with goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, whose carelessness on the ball was a concern. 

‘That spreads a message throughout the team – the lack of concentration levels, the lack of urgency,’ said Keane of Pickford’s first-half performance on ITV.

Roy Keane has skewered England for their performance in the 2-1 loss to Greece at Wembley 

He singled out Jordan Pickford as the man whose carelessness set the tone for the rest

Lee Carsley’s side were humbled after a hugely disappointing performance at Wembley

‘What’s he doing? Do it quickly – not a good message from Pickford to send,’ he said, after Pickford lost possession far from home and needed Levi Colwill to bail him out. 

In the second half, a negligent throw from Pickford delivered the ball straight into Greece’s hands and it was fortunate they did not score. 

In Mail Sport’s player ratings from the English capital, the England goalkeeper – typically so reliable for his country – scored 3.5.  

Keane then went on to pull apart England’s defence for a supposed lack of desire. Pavlidis was able to keep the ball from several players in England’s area without a robust challenge before his first goal in the 49th minute. 

‘How can this happen? Five or six England players around him, brilliant from the striker, lovely finish, but my goodness someone’s got to put a tackle in,’ said Keane. 

‘If that happened in training you’d stop the session and say, “are you taking this seriously?” 

‘The words over the last two months with England – freedom and style and attacking players, freedom is the new buzz word, the new garlic bread!

‘But you still have to do the basics of football. I go back to it in terms of defending properly, and urgency, England didn’t seem that urgent.    

Vangelis Pavlidis netted twice, with the second goal coming deep into stoppage time

Jude Bellingham thought he’d earned his side a point, only for them to concede moments later

‘Why do England only have urgency when they’re 1-0 down?

‘That was disappointing for England tonight. Their set-piece delivery and the way they were attacking the ball was so poor. 

‘And the basics in terms of wanting to defend, having a bit of pride.’

Bellingham thought he had salvaged a point for England with a first-time strike from the edge of the area after 87 minutes, hopefully sparing England a worst competitive defeat in terms of ranking since they lost to Northern Ireland in 2005.

But Greece had other ideas, and as Greece attacked deep in stoppage time, a litany of mistakes and a failure to clear the ball presented Pavlidis with another chance inside the area, which he duly took. 

Carsley had taken the bold decision not to field an established striker, with Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke starting on the bench and Harry Kane not fully fit. 

So it was that Bellingham operated as a sort of half-striker, while Phil Foden and Cole Palmer were stifled somewhere behind him. 

In the words of Mail Sport’s Oliver Holt, it was a ‘shapeless and confused’ performance.  

Pavlidis had given Greece the lead in the first half, with the visitors also having two goals ruled out for offside and an effort cleared off the line in a concerning defensive display from England

Greece’s players displayed a shirt in tribute to George Baldock – who died on Wednesday

Carsley should at least be commended for his selection and doing it in a Nations League game

But it didn’t work – and it was evident that England are not going to stroll to World Cup success

Ian Wright told ITV: ‘Lee (Carsley) took a massive chance on a system that he’s played before at U21 [level], but what he’ll learn tonight is that at this level, with wily midfielders, a wily old coach who knows exactly where to press to win the ball back from England.’

‘And then England themselves, not being as fluent as they should be, should have started the game with more urgency. Greece took full advantage.’