Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham was the outstanding player for England as the Three Lions opened their European Championship campaign with a win over Serbia in Gelsenkirchen, but Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold was always going to be the biggest talking point.
It remains to be seen what Arne Slot’s viewpoint is about where the Scouser should be deployed but Gareth Southgate has gone where Jurgen Klopp was reluctant to go. For England, at least, Alexander-Arnold’s position is in the center.
Alexander-Arnold impressed to an extent, particularly first half, with the caveat, much talked about by Roy Keane, Gary Neville and co heading into the opening match of the group, of it ‘only’ being Serbia.
There are bigger tests to come, of course, but the idea that Alexander-Arnold is inexperienced, as was suggested by one pundit pre-match, is simply laughable. Wayne Rooney labeling him defensively poor earlier in the week was simply joining the bandwagon.
Inexperienced in the center of midfield, perhaps. But Alexander-Arnold is a three-time Champions League finalist and a sublime talent who is unique within world soccer.
Failure to select the Liverpool man would be a dereliction of duty to one of the most gifted players of his generation but getting the absolute best out of his talent is proving to be a dilemma.
In possession, Alexander-Arnold showed the range of passing that he has. He also proved that just because he is playing in the middle of the pitch, that does not mean that A) he will have a lot more space to work in or B) he will have no defending to do.
In fact, he still had to work an area for himself around the Serbian midfielders and he still had to put his foot in to win the ball back.
Alexander-Arnold’s defensive ‘woes’ are overblown — Keane and Neville suggesting he would get ‘ripped to shreds’ against better opposition is simply baseless — and he certainly gets a lot less scrutiny than the likes of Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier do for their contributions in that regard.
On this occasion, he won 100 per cent of his attempted tackles and 91 per cent of his passes — a normal rate for a player whose limitations are exaggerated and his strengths often overlooked.
On the ball, Alexander-Arnold sprayed the ball around and set the likes of Bellingham and Bukayo Saka free on numerous occasions. He didn’t quite get a first-half free-kick right but he did plenty of other good stuff.
It wasn’t as spectacular as it can be from the Reds’ vice-captain but it was still more than enough to see him keep his place against Denmark.
Regardless of the inevitable continuation of the Alexander-Arnold conversation as the tournament progresses, England simply has to find a way of getting the Liverpool ace in the team.
Along with Bellingham and Phil Foden, he is among the most naturally talented players the country has ever produced.
Instead of a constant drone about his perceived weaknesses, though, not least because England is not exactly solid and robust collectively, let alone on an individual basis, Alexander-Arnold should be one of the pillars that the side is built around — as he would be if he played for Spain, France or Brazil.
Liverpool knows that the upside of Alexander-Arnold far outweighs anything else. Even if you (wrongly) believe that he is a liability going backward, what he offers going the other way is too good to ignore.
There were a few reminders of that here, and perhaps across the course of the next few weeks, the rest of the country might see that too.
