England's fourth best right back

jonny_greenings_sock

Well-known member
Some statement last night from Trent Alexander Arnold.

Unreal Beckham cross for the first, set up Salah for the second, his interception for the third.

Andy Townsend on commentary: "Gareth... Can any of your other right backs do that??"

Also funny to see the Liverpool keeper disguised as David Seaman, did double take when the teams came out!

P2021-04-03-Arsenal_Liverpool-5-1080x675.jpeg
allison-rush.jpeg
 
Gary Lineker seems to have taken it really personally that Alexander-Arnold wasn't in the squad, hahah.


If Southgate's only concern was pinpoint delivery from a right back, he'd be in every starting 11.
Fact of the matter is he's never been first choice, even when he was in far better form, I expect part of that will be because of defensive responsibilities.
The only time anyone ever mentions Alexander-Arnold is because of a cross he's made.
 
Gary Lineker seems to have taken it really personally that Alexander-Arnold wasn't in the squad, hahah.


If Southgate's only concern was pinpoint delivery from a right back, he'd be in every starting 11.
Fact of the matter is he's never been first choice, even when he was in far better form, I expect part of that will be because of defensive responsibilities.
The only time anyone ever mentions Alexander-Arnold is because of a cross he's made.
If defensive responsibilities are what Southgate is looking for in his full backs why on earth is Kyle Walker anywhere near the England squad? 🤔
 
Valid write-up about TAA here:

14) “Take a look, Gareth Southgate,” roared Martin Tyler, who added that Trent Alexander-Arnold was “hitting back in the best possible way” with a wonderful cross for Jota’s opening goal.


The idea that Southgate would have “taken a look” at that assist and learned anything new about Alexander-Arnold is laughable. The fact that anything the Liverpool right-back does between now and the summer is going to be viewed through the prism of ‘isn’t the England manager stupid for not picking someone who has never played well for England?’ is deeply and unavoidably regrettable. And Klopp is a sod for playing up to it.


Southgate literally conceded last month that “I feel like I have got to look at myself a bit with Trent. I don’t feel that he has hit that level he’s hit with Liverpool here with England, and other players have. So there is an element of me having to look at how can we do that”. He has publicly accepted some responsibility for his international struggles when he absolutely didn’t have to. So is it really necessary to labour this player-versus-manager narrative for evermore? He is an exceptionally brilliant player for club, if not yet for country. And that really is fine.

If people are going to suggest TAA should be selected as a fullback for England based on the crossing ability and passing range he demonstrated against Arsenal yesterday, go and watch the 7-2 defeat to Aston Villa earlier in the season, in particular his diabolical defensive performance and poor positioning, then understand exactly why he doesn't feature in Southgate's plans.
 
It's a difficult balance for Southgate. I can see why he wants dependability but ultimately you have to have players who can win big games for you. We've gone with solidity in the past which can see you past the easier teams and then we've come unstuck against quality as we haven't had enough in the locker. Players who deliver quality delivery are valuable assets. I'd take Trippier and Alexander Arnold as the right back options
 
Horses for courses for me. I'd have him in the squad but he's only playing when we expect to dominate the ball and play in the opposition half (Scotland match?) 😉

Against a quality left winger he gets found out and Walker probably starts. I actually think James might be our best balanced right back in terms of attacking and defending. Wins his fair share of one on ones but his positioning sometimes isn't great.
 
just because you play for one of the big clubs does not mean you are automatically entitled to ne in the national team.
Let Gareth pick his squad and his palyers, do it his way, if he fails then no excuses. As for me anywhere semi finals is a good run for us.
 
Until TAA learns to defend better than he should never be a first choice international. FBs have to be able to defend first and foremost, it's the foundation on which their ability is built on. A brilliant cross is the cladding on your house, but there's no use having cladding if the house is sinking.

I remember when we bought Cyrus Christie and people raved about his driving forward with the ball and being our best attacking outlet under Monk. 6 months later he was gone due to the huge number of goals we conceded from his flank. Now TAA is better defensively than Christie was, but he still has some way to go to be trusted as an international FB and the other RBs for England have not let Gareth or the fans down, they've all done pretty damned well. Which RB deserves dropping?!
 
Last edited:
A bit trite from Townsend.

TAA's form dipped alarmingly. If being left out provides the kick up the Rs he needed, then this is a clear win for SOuthgate.

I do think TAA has the most ability of our right back options, but he should not be complacent about it.
 
Scrap my earlier post. He's a decent winger but completely clueless defensively. People will question the header for the second but the only reason he has to make such a rash header is that he's so far out of position in the first place.
 
More teams target him as the weak link.cross field balls from the right are common place. Defensively he is poor due to shocking positional play
 
Costly mistake and poor tonight.

I’d still pick him for England though.

It’s an interesting debate, I just think give the other team something to worry about. If you’ve got an attacking player of his quality on the right, and he’s without a doubt one of the best full backs in Europe going forward, then no matter how good the other team is, they have to change their selection or tactics to accomodate it. England haven’t got loads of creativity, stodgy in the middle, so the creativity has got to come from somewhere. We did amazing at the World Cup, but so many goals from corners.

If you just want to play conservative and shore it up, then you might as well do a Tony Pulis and play Robert Huth at right back.

Suppose the difference between England TAA and Liverpool TAA is that Van Dijk / Fabinho are exceptionally good at covering his mistakes and England have nowhere near that kind of quality at centre back. Like you say, horses for courses is probably the right answer, but I’d hate to see us get beat playing conservatively against a bigger team - showcase what your players can do, not their limitations.

Gareth’s done an amazing job with England and apart from him not fancying Grealish much I agree with most of what he does. Just seems a weird hill to die on, this.
 
Trippier would probably be my 1st choice RB for the euros. Walker will go due to his apparent versatility, although I'm not a big fan of him being played as one of 3 CBs but it seems Southgate likes that as an option.

Then you are left with James and TAA. It could come down to last min decisions based on fitness but I suspect GS has already made his mind up
 
Back
Top