Gareth Southgate making Trent Alexander-Arnold suffer and Liverpool have to deal with consequences

Trent Alexander-Arnold is the reason England are massively underwhelming at the European Championships and will be solely responsible should football once again not come home.

Well, that's the conclusion that could easily be reached if the relentless stream of nonsense being spouted by people who should know an awful lot better is to be believed following another dismal display from the Three Lions in Germany.

A 1-1 draw against Denmark on Thursday evening has effectively secured a place in the last 16. But the manner in which England floundered increasingly aimlessly for the second game in succession has cast serious doubt over their pre-tournament standing as one of the favourites.

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And Alexander-Arnold is unfairly taking the brunt of the criticism.

The truth, of course, is somewhat more nuanced. But there is only one person who should take the blame - England boss Gareth Southgate.

An "experiment" - Southgate's description - a year in the making, playing the Liverpool man in central midfield simply isn't working. Alexander-Arnold hasn't yet found an ideal place in the engine room, players around him don't suit the change and not only do they not appear fully convinced, neither does the England head coach.

That is evident in Southgate twice hauling off Alexander-Arnold early in the second half this week, instantly making the 25-year-old a convenient scapegoat for England's travails. But it's the man in charge who isn't owning his decisions and, no doubt unwittingly, putting Alexander-Arnold in the firing line for the inevitable flak.

Southgate and his assistant Steve Holland have never really known what to do with Alexander-Arnold. What's good enough for Liverpool and has seen the player linked with Real Madrid clearly doesn't suffice for England. The plethora of right-back options hasn't made it easy to gain a regular place - Kyle Walker was their best player against Denmark - but the Scouser deserves better and more intelligent treatment.

The statistics from Thursday make for interesting reading. No player created more chances or played more line-breaking passes in the final third for England than Alexander-Arnold, despite him not playing for the final 40 minutes of the match. And defensively, the Liverpool man had clearly been assigned to keep Christian Eriksen in check, with the Denmark dangerman's minimal contribution suggesting it was a job well done.

The eye test, though, suggests something isn't right, Alexander-Arnold not entirely comfortable and uncertain in a part of the team where he has only ever started one game for Liverpool. As an aside, drawing conclusions from his performances for England regards a possible permanent switch into midfield for the Reds are futile given the personnel and tactics will be markedly different.

Alexander-Arnold, then, at least has an excuse for not replicating club form with his country. But the same cannot be said for Declan Rice or Jude Bellingham.

Bellingham, the matchwinner in the first game against Serbia, has struggled to otherwise make an impact and seems to have not grasped that he won't be given the same soft free-kicks playing for England as he does when playing for the regularly-indulged Real Madrid. Rice, meanwhile, simply has been nowhere near his level for Arsenal and seems in two minds over whether he should be a box-to-box midfielder or a defensive shield.

Conor Gallagher, Alexander-Arnold's replacement on both occasions he has been substituted in Germany, picked up a booking within moments of being introduced against Denmark to effectively neuter his own natural game. And from John Stones dropping far too deep, lethargic Harry Kane becoming isolated and then lost in the midfield scrum, and both Kieran Trippier and Phil Foden being played out of position, there are issues all through the England team.

There is also a distinct lack of on-field leadership, with nobody willing to assume responsibility. And that is sufficient reason to suggest, as unfashionable or unpopular a view as it may be, that England have sorely missed the experience and motivation of Jordan Henderson, even if just as a squad member or occasional substitute.

England look an unhappy team at what is shaping up to be an unhappy tournament and, given he is out of contract at the end of the year, potentially the last for Southgate. Should the Three Lions not improve, the fall-out will be significant.

And that will be the real worry for Liverpool and new head coach Arne Slot, who faces the tricky prospect of having to rebuild the confidence of Alexander-Arnold given the player is at present having to carry the can for the failure of so many others.

He isn't the first outstanding Liverpool talent that England have simply failed to properly understand. But Alexander-Arnold is in danger of being the one who suffers most should the Three Lions continue their dreary form in Germany.