England manager Gareth Southgate has expressed his frustration at not being able to continue testing Trent Alexander-Arnold in a midfield role.
Due to a knee injury, the Liverpool star was not selected for the Three Lions’ friendlies against Brazil and Belgium this week. Alexander-Arnold is expected to make a comeback after the international break, having missed more than a month of action.
Alexander-Arnold plays right-back for his club but during the November 2023 international break, Southgate successfully used him in midfield. He was eager to try this position switch again before the 2024 Euros, according to 90 min
In remarks to the media prior to Tuesday night’s friendly match between England and Belgium at Wembley Stadium, Southgate expressed his frustration with the “missed opportunities” to provide Alexander-Arnold with additional playing time in the midfield.
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“The midfield thing we’ve seen, but we’ve missed two opportunities with September and now this one that is really frustrating because there’s so much that’s unknown about it at the minute,” Southgate stated.
As you are aware, I have always thought the idea was cool, but we will be testing it before we see it in a truly competitive game. We’ll just have to see where it takes us from there.
It’s an extremely specialized role. Playing at full-back and popping into midfield, where you play, start the game, move in and out of position, and receive with your back to the goal are two very different things. All we can do is wait and see.”
Before leaving for Germany for Euro 2024, Southgate will have one more chance to use Alexander-Arnold in the England midfield alongside Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham. These friendlies against Bosnia & Herzegovina and Iceland are scheduled for early June.
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