Gareth Southgate’s Trent Alexander-Arnold experiment brings inconclusive results for England so far at Euro

After two dismal performances, the last of which ended with a threatening sending off nine minutes into the second half, it is perhaps worth remembering why England needed a midfielder like Trent Alexander-Arnold in the first place. Three tournaments in a row have ended with the English public wondering what would have happened if they had managed to control the midfield just from Luka Modric, Jorginho It is Aurelien Tchouameni.

Like manna from heaven, here came Alexander-Arnold. As a right-back, Liverpool The number 66 was more of a wide playmaker, whose greatest strengths were in the final third. He was an odd choice for a conservative England team. Then, as the 2022-23 season progressed, Jurgen Klopp began to invert the backs more, placing Alexander-Arnold in midfield positions where he could influence the game as a deep-lying playmaker. If that was where he was going to join his club, why not start him there for his country? What greater improvement could there be in England’s control of games than taking over a role previously played by Jordan Henderson It is Kalvin Philips and hand it to one of the best passers in the sport?

So far, this update is only apparent in patches at best. Ironically, Alexander-Arnold’s best action in the dismal 1-1 draw with Denmark came a little earlier Conor Gallagher replaced him, a usually scorching pass over the top that caught Kasper Schmeichel in no man’s land and that Bukayo Saka He did well to hook it into the side net. No one in the tournament so far has averaged more accurate long balls per 90 points than England’s No.8. In his 54 minutes on the pitch, Alexander-Arnold created more chances and made more line-breaking passes than anyone else.

England’s failings were not his alone and his departure did not portend an immediate recovery in form. The fact that the Three Lions were so underwhelming may have more to do with the fact that their spine… Harry Kane, Declan Rice It is John Pedras in particular – much of it appeared discolored. The reason Alexander-Arnold attracts attention is that he has promised to be England’s roof-raiser, the man whose guile in the heart of the pitch could transform England from tournament contenders to winners. That hasn’t happened yet.

Perhaps it’s simply because it’s too late to teach Alexander-Arnold how to be a true midfielder, rather than a right-back appearing on the pitch when needed.

“When you play in midfield, it’s like muscle memory,” says CBS Sports analyst Nigel Reo-Coker, a seven-year veteran of Premier League engine room duels. “You are very aware of the danger, when to press and when not to. Your body shape is something you need to understand, your positioning too.

“When you look at Trent with Rice, the distances are sometimes very small. He doesn’t know when to let go and protect the attacking player today Christian Eriksen It is Rasmus Hojlund. When England have possession of the ball, he is very square, very aligned with Rice. It allows a simple ball between the two, between the lines. Whoever you are playing with will break through freely and through you. If he is there to offer more crosses, he will need to be further up the field.

“You can’t learn these things overnight. The more you play in midfield, the more you see the danger and understand how your positioning affects the opponent. It didn’t work tactically and sometimes in the game, with Jude Bellingham being free too, you could put a blanket over Rice, Alexander-Arnold, Saka and even Saka and Kane. They are so tight and narrow in the middle of the field. A natural midfielder would know that he can dominate that area and dictate where players can be. They were very flat, very square.”

Perhaps much of this could have been resolved, or at least mitigated, if Alexander-Arnold had had more representatives in England’s engine room. Southgate has hinted at an interest in moving the Liverpool player to the field for some time now, but injuries have meant that the only teams to line up against the Three Lions’ midfield, including Alexander-Arnold, before this tournament are Andorra, Malta , North Macedonia and Bosnia. These are hardly the kind of teams that can give anyone a sense of how the “experiment” will work at the end of a major tournament, especially when it’s not about playing alongside Rice and Bellingham.

In flashes, there are signs of something that might work. One of England’s finest moments in their opening victory over Serbia it came when Alexander-Arnold moved into a pocket of space, offering that angle to Rice in such a way that any pass on the field could be available to him. He chose the right path, a lovely ball thrown over the top for Saka to chase.

Sitting on the right inner channel, he advanced from Rice, positioning himself in a location not very different from that from where he Kevin De Bruyne wreaks havoc on a City of Manchester shirt, Alexander-Arnold looked prepared to deliver a series of precise crosses into the danger area. Was this the best use of his qualities, rather than taking the ball away from English defenders to advance his team up the pitch? Southgate tried a bit of this approach early on against Denmark, but evidently whatever he was trying didn’t work.

Perhaps the coach himself doesn’t know exactly what he wants from Alexander-Arnold. His post-game comments would suggest as much.

“He had a few moments where he delivered what we thought he would,” Southgate said. “We know it’s an experiment. We know we don’t have a natural replacement for Kalvin Philips. We’re trying different things and right now it’s not flowing as we would like.”

Whatever Alexander-Arnold is, he is not a natural replacement for Philips, a mobile destroyer rather than the pace-setter that England have been clamoring for (while occasionally overlooking the qualities of Michael Carricks and Owen Hargreaveses) throughout its recent international history. Either way, it’s not entirely clear that Alexander-Arnold is that, not when he’s only attempting 43 passes against Serbia.

Then again, what else is there? Twice Southgate turned to Conor Gallagher, a natural midfielder but whose best performances tend to come in a more off-the-ball role. Kobbie Mainoo He likes to have the ball at his feet, but the greatest quality of his fledgling career seems to be his ability to move the ball away from pressure, which doesn’t always occur in international play. Adam Wharton can offer something England need in possession, but even Southgate’s most virulent critics can possibly I admit that six months of Premier League football is not much to go on.

Amid all the turmoil, England are where they need to be, top of the group and almost certainly on their way to the knockout stages. This team’s reasonably successful tournaments under this management have included disappointing draws against weaker opposition, especially Scotland and the USA. On these occasions, however, the feeling was of a stable vehicle that just needed a little tuning, rather than one that hadn’t yet figured out which engine would make it work. The time for experimentation will soon be over and Southgate may not yet have enough information to know whether Alexander-Arnold could be what England need to win Euro 2024.