Gareth Southgate opted against starting Liverpool full back Trent Alexander-Arnold as England lost 2-1 to Czech Republic and grabbed a convincing win against Bulgaria.
It’s a bit of a surprising decision, given Trent’s pedigree as arguably the best full back in Europe – certainly in the Premier League.
Atletico Madrid’s Kieran Tripper was preferred to the Scouser on both occasions, and, to be fair, he put in a shift against Bulgaria that no England fan could complain about.
But it’s not a bad thing that Trent has been snubbed by England in the last two games – it’s actually a positive, in a round about way.
Trent – like myself – was born in Liverpool. In fact, we grew up around ten miles away from each other, so I feel as if I’ll be able to guess how he feels about the national team.
In Liverpool, we don’t have a whole lot of national pride and because of this a lot of us couldn’t care less about England and how they get on.
Don’t get me wrong, we don’t hate the national team – we just don’t care all that much. I, for one, prefer to support local non-league sides when it’s the international break.
That’s just a bit of context though – Trent is a footballer and is English so he’ll want to be playing for the national side, obviously.
Selfishly, as a Liverpool fan, it’s actually a good thing that Trent isn’t used up by England – it ensures that he’s stayed fresh for the Reds.
We travel to Old Trafford this weekend, and even though Jordan Henderson will be more fatigued than Joe Gomez, Trent should be raring to go – perhaps to prove a point!