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5 months ago
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Some interesting comments from Alan Shearer ahead of England playing Denmark on Thursday.
Especially concerning Trent Alexander-Arnold and Anthony Gordon.
Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Alan Shearer asked what he thinks Gareth Southgate will do for this second group match:
“What will he do next? I think he will make one or two changes. He might look at the Trent Alexander-Arnold situation. He might put Bellingham back alongside Rice and play Foden in the 10 and maybe put Anthony Gordon out wide [left].”
So what do you think about the Newcastle United and England legend’s analysis?
This was the England team v Serbia:
Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Kieran Trippier, Declan Rice, Trent Alexander-Arnold (Gallagher 69), Bukayo Saka (Bowen 76), Jude Bellingham (Mainoo 86), Phil Foden, Harry Kane
My immediate thoughts after that 1-0 England win were…
‘I think yet again the big thing for me is that it comes back to so many English players in Premier League are over hyped.
As I said, I thought back four and Pickford ok, including Trippier doing a job on the left.
Problem is though, nobody in this England squad wants to play high on left apart from Gordon. The likes of Saka, Foden, Palmer, Bowen, all want to be on the right.
Bellingham was easily man of match and the one England player very much deserving of the hype.
Rice was good but Foden contributed next to nothing.
Trent Alexander-Arnold does odd good thing but basically is rubbish in midfield. He has a luxury role playing for Liverpool, a freedom pretty much from defensive responsibilities and discipline at right-back, with others covering his obvious weaknesses when the opposition have the ball. Playing him in midfield for England is just ridiculous, he hasn’t got a clue and puts so much pressure on the others.
Saka did well first half and Kane battled well second, though should have scored his header.’
As I said, Trent Alexander-Arnold does a great job for Liverpool as a luxury player posing as a right-back. Terrible at defending but having excellent defenders such as Van Dijk and others covering him, as he does his impressive stuff going forward.
However, playing Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield is a joke, especially for England, where there are numerous other alternatives.
To me, it felt like in order to accommodate Trent Alexander-Arnold, Gareth Southgate messed up so much of the England team on Sunday. Foden couldn’t get into the game and England had no attacking threat on the left at all. Alexander-Arnold strolled around and did pretty much nothing in an attacking sense, whilst a total liability in terms of defending and discipline against Serbia.
I think Anthony Gordon is the right call and certainly Trent Alexander-Arnold must be dropped. If it isn’t Gordon to come in, then numerous other alternatives would be an improvement as well, whether Wharton, Mainoo etc.
I think it is very interesting the Trent Alexander-Arnold situation as he is a bit of a one-off. A very talented footballer but what exactly is his position?
Imagine if he left Liverpool, who would sign him and where would they play him? He is a terrible defender so I can’t imagine any other club playng him at right-back, whilst I also can’t believe anybody could/would play him in midfield.
As I said earlier, Trent Alexander-Arnold DOES work for Liverpool most of the time but Klopp built a team/system to accommodate him.
With few (zero?) real defensive responsibilities, these are the Premier League direct goal involvements in recent seasons for Trent Alexander-Arnold:
2018/19 – 13 direct PL goal involvements (1 scored and 12 assists)
2019/20 – 17 direct PL goal involvements (4 scored and 13 assists)
2020/21 – 9 direct PL goal involvements (2 scored and 7 assists)
2021/22 – 14 direct PL goal involvements (2 scored and 12 assists)
2022/23 – 11 direct PL goal involvements (2 scored and 9 assists)
2023/24 – 7 direct PL goal involvements (3 scored and 4 assists)
I make that 71 direct goal involvements in the Premier League these past six seasons for Trent Alexander-Arnold, which is remarkable from right-back. However, it is a unique position when it is right-back not expected to be any good in defence,
It will be interesting to see what happens with England and Gareth Southgate, where Trent Alexander-Arnold is concerned, as for me it will be inviting trouble to continue with him.
Then arguably, it will be even more interesting to see what new Liverpool boss Arne Slot does with Trent Alexander-Arnold…

 
