Rice blasts England’s obsession with tearing down Liverpool talent

Arsenal star Declan Rice challenged the current toxic trend of scapegoating Liverpool vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold for the failures of England

Declan Rice continues to vigorously defend Liverpool vice-captain and England teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold despite the continuous agenda to scapegoat him. UEFA Euro 2024 has received praise for entertaining and competitive football but England’s two dull games have suffered intense criticism.

England won their first group stage game 1-0 against Serbia and then drew 1-1 to Denmark while performing very poorly. Despite the failure of the whole team, critics have continuously attacked Trent when he continued to create good opportunities.

Gareth Southgate played a double-pivot of Declan Rice and Trent Alexander-Arnold in the midfield but the duo have struggled alongside others. England lacks an attacking outlet and ends up getting too congested on possession while dropping too deep when they are defending.

Speaking about the negative criticism of Trent in his ITV Interview (via YouTube), Rice highlighted the hypocrisy of the critics. He said:

“Half the country are calling for Trent to play in midfield. You play him in midfield and you want to bring him down. I don’t get it. I don’t get it at all. I’ll defend all of my boys until I never put on an England shirt. Trent is one of the best players I’ve ever seen. Don’t call for someone to play in a position and then backtrack all because you think he’s had a bad game or something. I’ll tell you now, Trent can play in midfield. I’ve seen it at England, I’ve seen it for Liverpool. He’s unbelievable. That’s what I say to the people that you see say this type of stuff.”

Many social media fans including the Liverpool-affiliated engagement accounts that drew criticism during the Darwin Nunez Saga criticized Trent’s midfield role. Even when they partially defended the 25-year-old by targeting Southgate, they negated many truths with poor narratives about his career.

One of the most commonly used narrative is legendary manager Jurgen Klopp’s use of Trent as a right-back. They have argued that Klopp used Trent in that position because of his lack of prowess as a midfielder.

That argument is flawed as Klopp consistently deployed Trent centrally last season when Liverpool needed to make comebacks. The 25-year-old played as a quarterback and as a key catalyst in comeback victories against Crystal Palace and Fulham.

Trent has also maintained his role as an inverted right-back since the latter end of the 2022-23 season. Klopp has worked at Liverpool under a limited budget, making him prioritize certain key areas before addressing the ones that worked.

The truth about England’s persistent misery compared to other countries that make similar high-quality talent is their philosophy. Back in 2010, Xabi Alonso highlighted that problem perfectly as a player, calling England’s culture “more brawn than brains”.

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The criticism from British pundits like Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville, Roy Keane, and Sam Allardyce highlights their preference for “power and energy” over quality. England’s football culture actively scapegoats top players, perpetuating a toxic trend that prioritizes blame over support, crushing morale and yielding no victories.