National media give verdict on Alexander-Arnold’s display for England, after rare start last night

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Trent Alexander-Arnold had a mixed game for England last night, as they beat Australia 1-0.

Having had a decidedly uneventful Three Lions career so far, Alexander-Arnold was given a rare start by Gareth Southgate at Wembley.

The game itself was a poor one, but Trent was one of England’s better players. This was reflected in his 7/10 rating from The Express, who claim that the Liverpool defender was ‘at the centre of everything good’ for his team.

Alexander-Arnold reportedly tried ‘several creative passes’ to get his country into better positions. That sounds like our boy.

Other outlets were less enthusiastic, though. Both the Evening Standard and The Telegraph rate the Reds No.66 as a 6/10.

The Standard do admit that it was Trent’s wonderful, first-time cross that helped create the only goal of the game, but also lament him for being ‘too keen’ to move into midfield. His tendency to invert seemingly left Fikayo Tomori with too much space to cover.

The Telegraph also seem decidedly unimpressed, giving his attempts to ‘pick out passes’ a mediocre rating.

Alexander-Arnold gets rare start

Trent is in a bit of a funny position with England. Over the course of his tenure, Southgate has made it quite clear that he prefers at least three players to the Liverpool man at right-back.

As a result, whenever Alexander-Arnold does get a run-out, he can’t really win.

Inevitably, he only plays in the games that don’t really matter. Last night’s friendly against an uninspiring Australia side is further proof of that.

Given the often low-intensity of these games, it’s difficult to impress sufficiently to force his way into Southgate’s plans.

At club level, there’s little more Alexander-Arnold can do for Liverpool to prove he should be first-choice for England. The manager has other ideas and that’s that.

We have of course seen Liverpool’s No.66 utilised in midfield for full games for Southgate in the past. But with Jordan Henderson still a favourite, Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice clear starters and the likes of Conor Gallagher and James Maddison around, that also looks crowded.

So, Alexander-Arnold will keep plodding on and turning up. But until England get a manager who is willing to put one of the country’s most talented players permanently in the team, he’s destined to do not much more than that.