On the plus side, coach Lee Carsley now has the answer to how to fit all of England's attacking stars into one team. But ironically, if he does find the answer, Carsley's time in charge of the Three Lions could soon come to an end.
A side featuring Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon were beaten 2-1 by Greece in the UEFA Nations League.
Carsley's experiment with a superb attacking formation was foiled when Vangelis Pavlidis scored the winner in stoppage time. In fact, Greece were the better team in the game, despite England's star-studded squad. They even had five attempts on goal, two of which were ruled out for offside.
"I didn't think we started the game well and I thought we played badly at times. We tried something different with the formation and the areas of the pitch we tried to approach.
"We never really gave ourselves a chance to see if that decision was right or wrong. Obviously looking at the result and the way the game went, it was a challenging night for us. Greece played well," Carsley said after the game.
With Harry Kane sidelined with a thigh problem, Carsley ignored the warnings. Perhaps consumed by the debate over whether Bellingham, Foden or Palmer should play England's '10', he opted for all of them. Saka and Gordon were deployed on the flanks and combined to form a tactical hybrid.
Without balance and without clear tactics, Greece could easily defend against a disjointed attack from the home team.
"With the players we have, sometimes we have to be brave with our system and be creative. I think it's important to try something different. And I'm happy to take responsibility for that.
"It was completely my idea. I thought long and hard about what it would look like, how it would be built and how it would feel. That's something that didn't come to fruition tonight," Carsley added.
With Trent Alexander-Arnold allowed to drift into the middle of the pitch from right-back, Foden, Bellingham and Palmer were all caught up in the midfield melee. There were too many men when England tried to attack and they looked vulnerable when defending.
Pavlidis's 94th-minute goal gave Greece their first win over England. It was clear that Carsley would have to revert to his old tactics in the next game against Finland. The FA may also have realised that they needed to find a permanent manager soon.
Despite the previous prospects, losing to Greece was a major setback for Carsley.
