1 year ago
193 Pundit Rob Green claimed Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold has had a great international break despite not even playing for England.
Green was speaking on the Football Daily Podcast, reflecting on England’s 1-1 draw with Ukraine.
After winning five games on the bounce, England finally lost their 100% record in European Championships qualifying.
Oleksandr Zinchenko opened the scoring before Kyle Walker scored his first international goal.
England failed to break down Ukraine’s staunch defence with Harry Kane forced to drop deep to provide the assist for Walker’s goal.
Gareth Southgate went with a midfield of Jordan Henderson, Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham.
Rice and Bellingham can contribute to attacks but are much more effective with their dribbling than their passing.
Trent Alexander-Arnold could have been the player to unlock Ukraine’s defence had he not been absent during this international break.
Injury ruled him out of being involved after initially being named as a midfielder in the squad announcement.
It’s clear that’s where Southgate sees him playing for England going forward.
Alexander-Arnold the winner of this international break
Speaking about the midfield situation, Green said: “One thing, at least Gareth Southgate tried something.
“He tried something different with [Jude] Bellingham and [James] Maddison in there.
“He tried something new and it didn’t quite click, it didn’t quite work out but that’s where they are.
“The big takeaway from it, the way the game panned out was the one true winner of the game was Trent Alexander-Arnold.
“And playing in that midfield role with the quarterback as we called him and it ended up with Harry Kane dropping into that role to play that ball.
“He would have added something different into that dimension in midfield if selected.
“Obviously being in the squad would have helped, not being injured but I do think that sometimes you gain by your omission from a team or from not playing as such.
“And I think that he’s the one true winner from it last night because he would have sat there and gone, given the time and space that they had in that deep-lying midfield role he’d have picked those runners off.”
Alexander-Arnold will want to be fit for the next international break to make sure he’s in Southgate’s thinking for next year’s Euros.
If he’s got to play his way into England’s midfield, he’ll need to take every opportunity possible.
He’s done brilliantly in that role already for Liverpool this season and has the added responsibility of being the club’s vice-captain.
It might finally be time for Alexander-Arnold to be a key figure for the Three Lions.
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