Ian Wright does not believe that Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold should come into the England XI for their final World Cup group game.
The Three Lions posted a relatively poor performance on Friday night in drawing 0-0 with USA in Qatar.
The Liverpool right-back has been an unused substitute in both of England’s games, including the 6-2 demolition of Iran earlier this week.
Despite being questionable defensively, Alexander-Arnold is one of his nation’s best attacking players and Gary Neville, speaking on ITV Sport last night, suggested that perhaps the Reds’ star was needed to unlock the Americans’ defence.
Wright was on the same panel as Neville – along with Roy Keane – and the iconic former Arsenal hitman has revealed on his podcast that he went on to disagree with his colleague, although it didn’t make the air.
He told The Wrighty’s House podcast: “I’m not sure. I’m not sure at this particular moment if Trent is the one to play on that right side. We’re not playing well enough to give Trent the license to go and do his stuff. That was one of the things I had to disagree with him [Neville] about but it didn’t make the airwaves.”
Wright is probably correct.
There’s no doubt that the Liverpool right-back is exceptional when it comes to setting up goalscoring opportunities.
But, on the flip side, he can be a defensive liability and given that the Americans spent most of the second half last night on top, unleashing Alexander-Arnold might’ve been a risk.
Gareth Southgate’s side round off their Group B campaign against Wales on Tuesday and it’ll be interesting to see if the 24-year-old is included or remains on the bench.
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