Trent Alexander-Arnold’s Fortunate Break
Former England goalkeeper Rob Green believes Trent Alexander-Arnold has had a stroke of luck during the recent international break, despite not being able to play due to an injury.
The Liverpool full-back was forced to sit out of England’s two matches this month after sustaining an injury in his club’s last Premier League game against Aston Villa.
However, England’s loss of their perfect winning record in Euro 2024 qualifying against Ukraine, where the team struggled with creativity, had Green thinking that Alexander-Arnold could benefit from this setback.
“At least Gareth Southgate tried something,” Green explained on the Football Daily podcast. “He experimented with [Jude] Bellingham and [James] Maddison in the midfield.
“He attempted something new, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite click. That’s just how things go sometimes.
“The main takeaway from the game was that Trent Alexander-Arnold emerged as the true winner.
“Playing in that midfield role, often referred to as the quarterback, ended up with Harry Kane dropping into that position to make plays.
“If selected, Alexander-Arnold would have brought a different dimension to the midfield.
“Obviously, being in the squad would have been beneficial, but I do believe that sometimes you can gain from being omitted or not playing.
“Last night, he was the true winner because he would have observed the time and space available in that deep-lying midfield role and would have been able to exploit it by picking out the runners.”
