Jamie Redknapp has wildly suggested on Sky Sports (14/10/20 at 10:15 pm) that he would like to see Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold play in midfield for England.
The TV pundit thinks Liverpool’s academy product can play in that position ‘easily’, as he compared him to Bayern Munich legends Philipp Lahm and David Alaba.
All of this comes after Alexander-Arnold was dropped by Gareth Southgate yesterday for Reece James as England were beaten 1-0 by Denmark in the UEFA Nations League at Wembley.
Given that the Chelsea man played so well in the wing-back role, Redknapp explained why he wants Alexander-Arnold in the middle of the park, as he also used Kevin de Bruyne as an example.
“I am throwing one out there now,” Redknapp told Sky Sports. “What if we were to play Trent Alexander-Arnold in that midfield position? He can play there easily. I am re-shaping the team now putting Declan Rice at the back and him there.
“I think get him on that right-hand side with his qualities and his defensive athleticism. Then you can get them both [Alexander-Arnold and Reece James] in the team. We have had a problem with too many full-backs in the team – because of Trent’s ability as a right-back it might not suit him as a wing-back.
“The reason why I say that is I was speaking to Ashley Cole the other day and I said ‘surely you would have loved to have played as a wing-back?’ He said ‘no I wouldn’t have liked it. I wanted to come onto things later. I didn’t want too much in front of me too early’.
“When you think of Alaba, when he plays for Bayern Munich, and you think about Lahm when they play central midfield. What I am trying to think with this England team is getting good players in central positions. That position on the right there is a space where Kevin de Bruyne operates in that area because he knows there’s a space that gets vacated for someone like him to do his magic. I think because he has got such a good brain, Trent, he can play there.”
It would be dangerous playing Alexander-Arnold out of his current position because he’s not doing anything wrong and if something isn’t broke then don’t fix it.
It’s clear that playing as a wing-back doesn’t suit TAA but he should use that as motivation to prove he can learn to play that spot, and as a result, force his way back into England’s starting XI.
At right-back, TAA is aware that he has no-one over his shoulder so he can play with more freedom, whereas in the middle of the park, it changes everything and he is then looking over both shoulders as well as ahead.
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