Liverpool vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold is an easy scapegoat for the failure of England manager Gareth Southgate and the outdated English mentality
English media hide the outdated mentality and poor tactics of England manager Gareth Southgate by attacking Liverpool vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold. The persistent attack on Trent started even before the Euro 2024 commenced and highlights the old problems England has faced.
In the Euro 2024, England have won their first match 1-0 against Serbia and drew the second game 1-1 against Denmark. Southgate’s men delivered two dull-fest in a tournament that received huge praise for its exciting football in the early stages.
Nevertheless, Trent has endured constant nitpicking from the British pundits over his new role at the central midfield position. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s critics argue that he excels at right-back, where his defensive issues are less exposed.
These fringe defenders in social media include some Liverpool fans who still want him to play as a conventional right-back. Trent claims his ideal position is in midfield, where he can create threats and dictate the tempo of the game.
Legendary manager Jurgen Klopp used Trent as the right-back when the position needed a creator which Klopp prefers from fullbacks. Liverpool used Andy Robertson and the England international as they raked up record-breaking assists for the club, bringing success.
Nevertheless, Klopp is also the manager who changed Trent’s role into an inverted fullback and deployed him centrally last season. When people say Trent lacks experience, they miss many games when he played centrally and helped in Liverpool’s numerous comebacks.
TNT Sports (via X) provided an impressive display from Trent in his 54-minute performance against Denmark yesterday. The 25-year-old created three chances, completed six long balls, dribbled past an opponent once and won two fouls. Furthermore, he won two out of five duels and blocked two shots, contributing to the defensive aspect of the game.
As Xabi Alonso once said “England have too much brawn not enough brain”: The culture that hates quality
Filtering through the consistent noise against the Liverpool vice-captain, England need to deep dive into their persistent problem. The country builds as many big players as France, Spain, Germany, Brazil or Argentina but they fail to win trophies.
England’s golden generation consisting of Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, Owen Hargreaves, David Beckham and many more failed drastically. The situation remains the same every time that they rely more on power and energy than technical quality, speciality and philosophy.
Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville have also weighed in on the debate, with Carragher calling Alexander-Arnold’s midfield “experiment” a failure and Neville controversially implying fullbacks as “failed midfielders”. These English pundits are further enabling the culture of failure that has festered at the international level.
Squawka shared Spain’s passing network vs England’s passing network at EURO 2024 and it highlights the main problem. England have no philosophy; their transition is slow and they lack an attacking outlet for playmakers to exploit and stretch opponents.
The problem with England is so obvious, and yet ignored by arrogance that Xabi Alonso highlighted it as a player. The Spaniard is now a manager and one of the biggest up-and-coming managers in the football world with vast knowledge.
Back in 2010, Alonso highlighted that England has too much brawn but not enough brain as they resort to “pace and energy”. Cesc Fabregas recently defended Trent because countries like Spain enjoy and respect players like the Liverpool vice-captain.
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English football’s emphasis on physicality would have stifled the creative genius of Juan Roman Riquelme, Mesut Ozil, Andres Iniesta, and Andrea Pirlo, had they been born in England. Michael Carrick, one of the well-respected deep-lying playmakers, suffered a mediocre career as an English international due to similar reasons as Trent. The Liverpool vice-captain could be a hero for England in the right system and with right back from the media and the fans but right now he is a scapegoat, a victim of his genius in a toxic environment.
