England's best and worst players in shock defeat to Greece

  • England were beaten 2-1 by Greece
  • Vangelis Pavlidis scored a brace for the visitors
  • England's best and worst players in the loss
England failed to impress against Greece
England failed to impress against Greece / Catherine Ivill - AMA/GettyImages
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England suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Greece in the UEFA Nations League at Wembley Stadium on Thursday evening.

A brace from striker Vangelis Pavlidis ensured Greece of a famous win - their first ever over England, in fact - against a rather sorry looking Three Lions side under the interim charge of Lee Carsley.

Here's England's best and worst performing players in the defeat, according to 90min's esteemed player ratings.


England's best player vs Greece

Noni Madueke: 7/10

Noni Madueke, Lazaros Rota
Gave it a go / Robin Jones/GettyImages

He may have only played 40 minutes or so of the game, but Noni Madueke showed more than any of his England teammates in the final third on Thursday evening.

The Chelsea man, seemingly hellbent on trying to prove he's good enough to start for England, worked his socks off on the right flank after replacing Bukayo Saka, constantly trying to beat his man and create something for his teammates.

He's one of the few that could've left Wembley with their head held high.


England's worst player vs Greece

Phil Foden: 4/10

Phil Foden
Another poor performance / James Gill - Danehouse/GettyImages

We need to have a pretty honest conversation about Phil Foden.

Despite being a nailed on starter in recent years, the reigning PFA Players' Player of the Year simply hasn't done enough in an England shirt. Bar a 45 minute glimpse of greatness against the Netherlands, he struggled to make an impact at Euro 2024, and he's struggled ever since under interim boss Lee Carsley too.

On Thursday evening he created zero chances for his teammates in a game which extended his goalless and assist-less run in a Three Lions shirt to 15 games. That's bloody awful.


Dishonourable mention

John Stones: 4/10

John Stones
Poor outing / Robin Jones/GettyImages

Given the England captain's armband for the first time in his career against Greece, many were expecting John Stones to put in a proper captain's performance at the heart of his nation's defence.

Instead, he was incredibly weak in his attempted challenge on Pavlidis when Greece took the lead, and he managed to recover possession for his team just once throughout the entire 90 minutes.

Not ideal.


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