Gareth Southgate made a controversial decision back in March when he left Trent Alexander-Arnold out of his England squad. It appears to have fired up the full-back, however.
Liverpool are benefitting right now from what looks like a fired-up Trent Alexander-Arnold. And it’s quite easy to see why.
Back in mid-March, Gareth Southgate left the Scouser at home as England played over the international break. The boss explained how Alexander-Arnold just wasn’t ‘playing at the same level’ that he had been.
And that was true – but some context was required. Alexander-Arnold’s level was so high that even his ‘poor’ performances were a match for anyone else.
But we’ve gone on and on about that before.
Instead, let’s talk about what’s happened since. Alexander-Arnold has now played seven games since that decision and it appears the England snub has rejuvenated him somewhat.
A piece on PremierLeague.com explains it quite well. In the 27 Premier League games before March 16th, Alexander-Arnold created 1.7 chances per game.
That figure is still very high. Per Whoscored, it would have him joint-14th in the league, creating as much as Sadio Mane, Joao Cancelo and James Rodriguez.
In the five games since the snub, however, Alexander-Arnold is creating 3.2 chances per game. That would put him slightly ahead of Kevin De Bruyne in second for the season, behind only Jack Grealish.
England decision fires up Alexander-Arnold
Individual games back the improvement up. There was his fantastic display against Arsenal immediately after the decision, for instance.
Alexander-Arnold got the winner against Aston Villa, too, while he set up Liverpool’s only goal against Leeds United last month. It’s also worth mentioning that he was one of the few who played well at home to Real Madrid – the full-back created six chances.
There is a clear difference in Alexander-Arnold before and after the snub. So while we do think it was ridiculous to leave him out, perhaps Southgate did know what he was doing. The 22-year-old is now playing better and more like his old self.
Liverpool are benefitting from the rejuvenation, certainly. We imagine England will hope to this summer, too, as we can’t imagine Southgate doesn’t pick him on this form.
Alexander-Arnold is back to being one of the league’s greatest creative forces. If he keeps this up, then that’s one less thing to worry about at Liverpool next season.
Because if they want their title back, it’ll take another world-class season from Alexander-Arnold. Fortunately, that now seems very possible.
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