66-6 – Why Alexander-Arnold Could Still Work a no.6 for Liverpool
England are a disjoined mess, and no one should be judged in that context
One of the issues with international football, which puts me off, is that it feels more like a talent contest than a football tournament; the clamour for players from certain clubs, or star names, at the expense of cohesion.
I stopped watching England when Roy Hodgson took charge, but stopped caring before then; partly sick of the blame-game, often with Liverpool players getting the rough treatment (which goes back to John Barnes).
For England, Trent Alexander-Arnold plays with zero faith in him, as Gareth Southgate never selected him very much at all, and then never gave him a run as a no.6, before throwing him in, then dragging him off, then chucking him under the bus. Nice one, Waistcoat Man. Talk about setting someone up to fail.
But if you watch the Reds’ no.66’s best mate, the magisterial Jude Bellingham, the latter is fully at home – indulged, and allowed to “own” the ball. He’s the first name on the team sheet so he can relax and do his thing.
Unless you are a fully-drilled, finely-honed team, that means when certain players get a lot of the ball, others (like Phil Foden) will get a lot less of the ball. Or if Foden is on the ball a lot, Bellingham will see less of it. Jack Grealish thought he’d get more touches when he went to Man City; instead, he got fewer. He was in a better team but not everything went through him anymore. In England’s case, there’s just no cohesion at all.
Of course, Jordan Pickford hitting 38 punts upfield in the first two games is essentially bypassing Trent anyway.
Now Southgate is admitting that Alexander-Arnold is no Kalvin Phillips. Indeed he’s not; he’s infinitely better.
But Trent has also been messed around, and not made to feel like he can boss the ball. At Liverpool, he could just grab the ball from the inverted right-back position/quasi-6, and run the game.
He knows that any mistakes will be forgiven, and any long-range passes that don’t land are also forgiven.
But that’s England’s loss. However, at Liverpool, is he the best option for a no.6 role, and is that his best position?
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