Trent Alexander-Arnold might struggle to get back into the England squad again, according to one journalist.
The Liverpool right-back was omitted from Gareth Southgate’s latest pick for the Three Lions’ upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers against Italy and Ukraine, having gone to the World Cup but featured for only 33 minutes in Qatar (Transfermarkt).
Last week, the 24-year-old had his defensive acumen called out by Jamie Carragher in the wake of the Reds’ Champions League exit (via @CBSSportsGolazo on Twitter), and some have claimed that his exclusion from national team duty could become a familiar occurrence.
Dean Jones told GIVEMESPORT: “You have to wonder if Alexander-Arnold will ever get back in the mix now. This season has been a tough one, but Southgate’s decision would have been underlined when he was given the run around by Vinicius Jr. at the Bernabeu last Wednesday.”
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For all of Trent’s undoubted talent, there’s no getting away from the truth that he was well below his best against Real Madrid six days ago.
Sky Sports News highlighted (via @footballdaily on Twitter) how he was dribbled past eight times over the two legs of the tie – the most for any defender against a single team in the 2022/23 Champions League.
Also, he was handed a match rating of 5/10 by GOAL, with the verdict that he was ‘run ragged’ by Vinicius.
Despite the difficult night in Spain, though, Trent remains a tremendous footballer with a vision and ability for a pass that few players can match, just as he showcased last month with a delicious pass to set up Darwin Nunez to score against Newcastle.
It’ll obviously be disappointing for him to miss out on the latest England squad, but that does give him the chance to keep working on the training ground away from the public eye and get himself primed for Liverpool’s final 12 games of the season.
The best way to get himself back into Southgate’s plans and defy the doubters is to show at club level just how good we all know he can be.
He’s been run ragged by Vinicius about 6 times particularly in the CL final.
He’s just not a defender. Southgate has better options and when he played Trent he made the same mistakes…ball watching at the backpost etc and weak in physical challenges.