Ian Wright fears England face 'bigger issue' than Harry Kane row after Greece win

fears have a "bigger issue" to contend with after before the win over Greece. Ollie Watkins' first-half finish, an Odysseas Vlachodimos own goal and Curtis Jones' flick saw the Three Lions on Thursday night.

Before the match, nine players - Jarrad Branthwaite, Aaron Ramsdale, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Levi Colwill, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden - withdrew from the squad.

England captain Harry Kane on the England drop-outs, saying: "It's a shame, obviously. It's a tough period of the season and maybe that's been taken advantage of a little bit.

"I don't really like it if I'm totally honest. England comes before anything and any club situation." That has sparked a debate

The win away in Greece was Lee Carsley's penultimate match as interim head coach before he hands over the reins to Thomas Tuchel in the New Year. Tuchel opted to start on January 1 rather than becoming the new boss with immediate effect.

And former England striker Wright, on ITV for their coverage of the match, has pointed the finger at the FA for not putting Tuchel in charge straight away. He also feels fixture congestion is a major issue the national team will have to cope with.

Wright said: "What I would say that, in respect of the players that have pulled out... you'd like to have seen them there. But we're talking about a period of time where in this break the players are seeing that the FA themselves have chosen not to have a manager (Tuchel) for this game.

"What kind of message are you sending to the players? I'm not going to blame the players or question their integrity. If they've got the knocks and feel like they want to sit out, the opportunity should be there for the people coming in.

"That's who we should be focusing on. With everything we're saying here, the bigger issue is the calendar, the schedule. That's what it comes down to. The managers are talking about it, the players are talking about it. People are getting injured and they're glossing over that.

"The Club World Cup is expanded, the Champions League is expanded, there's a lot of games and it's already going (downhill) Pougs..."

Arsenal hero Wright also admits he was surprised to see Kane call out his England team-mates. He added: "I was very surprised if I'm totally honest. We're talking about somebody that has been in the trenches with those guys. Every single England call-up is important and an opportunity.

"He's the captain of a bunch of players, been in the trenches with them and the team are talking about being really together and everything's so strong, going from all that unity to then a few withdrawals and you're hearing about a lack of commitment, I have to go back to the FA.

"They've chosen not to have their manager here and they've set a precedent for it. But for Harry to say that about players he's been in two finals with, semi-finals of the World Cup and knowing the calibre of them, to say he's disappointed they've not come especially with the fixtures and how the game is going crazy with the amount of games they have to play, it was a bit of a shock to me.

"The thing with it is, he knows these guys. He knows them. I can't understand it. I'm shocked to hear it."