Gary Lineker has waded into the ongoing debate surrounding Trent Alexander-Arnold amid reports that the Liverpool vice-captain will lose his place in the England team.
The Athletic‘s David Ornstein revealed on Monday that the 25-year-old is set to be replaced by Conor Gallagher in Gareth Southgate’s midfield for tonight’s clash against Slovenia, with the Three Lions boss bafflingly calling the decision to play him in that position as an ‘experiment‘.
Speaking on BBC’s Euros Extra show, the Match of the Day host expressed sympathy for our number 66, who he believes has been made a fall guy by an ill-judged decision from his manager.
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Lineker said: “I do feel a bit for Trent Alexander-Arnold. I feel like he’s been hung out to dry a little bit. His manager’s said he’s an experiment and now it looks like an experiment that doesn’t work.
“It’s very hard to play in a new position even when a team’s playing well, but when a team’s struggling and a team’s disjointed and not together and not getting up the pitch it becomes very difficult. I do feel for him because he’s an unbelievably talented player.”
It’s refreshing to hear Lineker coming out in defence of Trent, who’s been unfairly savaged by the likes of Roy Keane and (to a lesser extent) Wayne Rooney over the past couple of weeks.
Southgate’s decision to take him off early in the second half against Denmark made no sense when considering that, as shown by statistics from TNT Sports, he was the one player who looked like creating a scoring chance for an otherwise turgid England side.
The 25-year-old played three key passes and created one ‘big chance’ in his 54 minutes on the pitch in Frankfurt. Gallagher, who came on for him that day and is set to start ahead of him tonight, didn’t manage one of either during his 36 minutes of game-time (Sofascore).
The Three Lions are assured of their place in the last 16 no matter what happens against Slovenia, but the uninspiring nature of their Euro 2024 campaign so far leaves them needing a convincing performance to alleviate the justified criticism of the team from fans and pundits.
It’s unfortunate that Trent is being ‘hung out to dry’ – to use Lineker’s apt phrasing – by talking heads who seem all too happy to make him the scapegoat for a dysfunctional collective, and by a manager who’s bizarrely using a major tournament for experimentation.
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