John Stones 'not happy' with England team-mates in candid rant after Greece loss

England defender John Stones has openly admitted that the team was outplayed by Greece, expressing his dissatisfaction with the squad's performance.

The Manchester City star, who took on the captain's armband in Harry Kane's absence, was notably disheartened following England's 2-1 loss at Wembley. The defence faltered as Vangelis Pavlidis netted an early goal in the second half, and despite Jude Bellingham's late leveller, Pavlidis struck again to hand England their first defeat at Wembley in four years and give Greece a historic victory.

Interim manager Lee Carsley is now left to mull over his selection choices and consider his next steps after taking over from Gareth Southgate post-summer.

Stones did not mince words about England's subpar showing in the Nations League encounter. With this result, England trails three points behind Greece in League B Group 2 at the midpoint of the competition.

"Absolutely gutted. It's hard to put into words," Stones lamented to ITV. "We prepared how we normally do and it didn't come off."

"We've got to give credit to them, from the start they put us right under pressure. We found it hard to come out from the back and play through the lines. Disappointing from us as well.

"As Lee [Carsley] said to us, we've got to deliver, to put the onus on ourselves and go and do the business and we didn't," he concluded.

"We didn't create enough chances, we didn't get enough second balls. We were quite spread from set pieces, a lot of counter-attacks that I'm not happy with personally. A lot riding on it for me personally and a lot of the lads. We could've topped the group. We've got to look at it and move forward."

While the Three Lions lacked a traditional striker from kick-off, their coach Lee Carsley sees a future in continuing to test out a false nine formation despite admitting his disappointment over England's lacklustre showing against Hungary.

"We were second best for a lot of tonight, it is disappointing. You are going to get setbacks and it's important we respond," he remarked sombrely after the match. He further explained the tactical approach, "We tried something different and tried to overload the midfield. We tried it for 20 minutes yesterday, we experimented, and disappointed it didn't come off. It's unrealistic to expect too much and we will have to try again. All the goals were from mistakes, which is disappointing."

"It is definitely an option going forward. When you have someone of Kane's quality though it rules it out when he is available. But in the future you have to have the courage and ability to try things. We tried something different. It doesn't change anything. My remit is to do the three camps."

Looking ahead, England is set to take on Finland, who have yet to secure a victory in this campaign and came off a recent loss to the Republic of Ireland last Thursday.