Gus Poyet warning
Former Greece manager Gus Poyet believes the loss at Wembley absolutely proves England can lose again in Athens, which would see them missing out on first place in Group 2 and being dealt a severe blow to their 2026 World Cup plans.
Poyet knows the Greeks very well as he managed them for two years and transformed them as he promoted them to League B, only just missing out on Euro 2024 qualification in the play-off final at Georgia, which led to his exit.
The Chelsea and Tottenham legend warned the Three Lions the main ingredient that could cause another upset is the Greek players’ unity.
The unity of the group, for sure, 100 per cent, [can lead to an upset] because it’s there and continues to be there.
“I think when you play against a team like England, which is one of the top teams in the world, you need to be practically perfect, no mistakes.
“And you need to be on the day to bring down the difference between the two teams. So you need to be clinical. Greece was clinical at Wembley,
“You need to make sure that everybody is in a high level. You just say, what a big decision for the coach you know, to play Pavlidis or to play Ioannidis [up front] – probably both will play part of the game.
“So there is plenty of things that they need to be decided yet, and it will depend on what the two managers pick and decide how to play this game.”