Lee Carsley aims to change England's tactics after sobering defeat | England

Lee Carsley intends to return to a more familiar system in the Nations League against Finland on Sunday as he looks for a response to England's formless performance in Thursday's 2-1 Wembley defeat to Greece.

The interim coach relied on an offensive 4-2-4 with Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer in the central areas, but found that the team struggled for cohesion and defensive security, especially against Greece's counterattacks.

Carsley suggested he would not have switched to the system without a recognized number 9 if Harry Kane had been fit – the captain was missing with a minor groin problem. He hopes to return to Helsinki.

The tactical plan was hatched at short notice as Kane suffered an injury at Bayern Munich on Sunday and only had a short time to practice on Wednesday. However, Carsley made it clear that he would not rule out this approach given his commitment to attacking football in the future.

“I probably won’t try that again on Sunday,” Carsley said. “I've trained enough to know we have to do something different. If Harry had been fit, I might have taken a different route. Do we need a reaction against Finland? Definitely. I've experienced enough setbacks in football to know that you're never far away. I have to lead by example and that's what I will do. My belief in this team hasn't changed.

“We tried something, it didn’t work. It could have been different and we're talking about, 'We found a different way to play.' I'm really worried about ruling something out so quickly when we've been doing it for literally an hour (in training). If someone points a finger, it's aimed at me.

“The way I want my teams to play is how I want us to attack and once we had the players we had available I wanted to try something different. It wouldn't stop me from trying something else in the future because I did well in that situation. I was a defensive player for 17, 18, 19 years and just sat there and played the counterattack. This is definitely not the way I want to train. If what we saw in the training reports clicked, then there is definitely potential there.”

The performance against Greece changed the narrative about Carsley getting the England job permanently. But the Football Association will not allow a single game, a single roll of the dice gone wrong, to decide everything.

There is a confidential procedure that has not yet been completed. A decision on Carsley is not expected before the end of his interim term. After Finland, he will play the last two games of the Nations League in November – against Greece in Athens and the Republic of Ireland at Wembley Stadium.

Carsley, who continues to enjoy strong support within the FA hierarchy, continues to dismiss any talk of the permanent job. He has always said he is focused solely on the three Nations League games, the first of which brought wins against Ireland in Dublin and Finland at home in September.

“I know it's a boring answer, but nothing changes as far as I'm concerned,” Carsley said. “The task was to conduct the three camps and nothing has changed. I know things went so well last camp… we had a disappointing night, but I'm not getting too high or too low.”

Carsley was asked about feeling like it was his job to lose him. “I definitely didn’t feel that,” he replied. “I tried to be as clear as possible about what I should do here. I have already taken on this interim role in three places and tried to be as forward as possible. I feel really privileged and very trusted to be in this position.”

Carsley will make changes to his starting XI against Finland, with defenders Kyle Walker and Marc Guéhi fighting for a return. Kane trained on Friday and some players expect him to be present in Helsinki.