Jack Grealish loses £500 bet with Trent Alexander-Arnold over free-kick

Trent Alexander-Arnold returned home from England duty £500 richer after accepting a bet as he lined up a free-kick at goal. A bonus for him and one too for Lee Carsley trying to solve a long-standing problem at left-back.

Alexander-Arnold is the latest to try to cover for the absence of Luke Shaw, whose importance to the team is such that he was parachuted into the European Championship final for his first start in five months.

Rico Lewis can step in, like he does at Manchester City, while Levi Colwill has also been tried there. Alexander-Arnold has not played there for Liverpool this season but is now another option for Carsley.

It comes with the usual problems of a right-footer on the left flank: the inclination to cut inside. But as Alexander-Arnold placed the ball down for his free-kick at Helsinki Olympic Stadium, he also executed a perfect set-piece that only few are capable of.

“I said ‘if you score this I’ll give you £500’ and then he just slapped it in the top bins. So I owe him now,” said team-mate Jack Grealish.

Trent can fill Trippier-shaped hole

Under Gareth Southgate, Alexander-Arnold was a conundrum, with his central-midfield experiment lasting two games at the Euros before being abandoned. Using the Liverpool player as Kyle Walker’s long-term successor looks a distinct possibility, with the ability to cover on the other flank in the way Kieran Trippier did in the Southgate era.

“Trent’s quality speaks for itself,” said Carsley, after the 3-1 win against Finland. “I don’t see it that I’ve found a place for him, he has more than earnt his place.

“We get bogged down with ‘left-back, right-back, what’s his best position?’ But as long as he is effective he is great to have. It’s important we have players of that quality and to play to their strengths, we definitely do that with Trent.”

Trippier’s international retirement went somewhat under the radar for a player who played such an important role in reaching the World Cup semi-final and two Euro finals. He was Mr Dependable for Southgate, who described him as “hugely underestimated”.

Southgate trusted Trippier, seeing him develop under Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid and becoming a defensive master – judging the distance between himself and attacker to give himself the best position for blocks and one-on-ones. He was also an “organiser” of the backline, with communication another underrated part of his game.

When England needed a left-back to cover for Shaw, it was Trippier. He did not burst into space like other left-backs but was solid defensively, which has been the criticism that Alexander-Arnold has faced.

“I can’t believe how bad Trent is defensively. Against better teams he’ll get found out,” said Roy Keane, as a pundit on ITV for England’s win.

Without radical change to the way he plays, this will always be the trade-off with Alexander-Arnold. He is not a grizzled full-back who would never let man or the ball past him – but he can be the most creative player on the pitch.

He can unlock a defence as he does for Arne Slot, or stick a free-kick into the top corner, not unlike Trippier did himself in Moscow six years ago. Carsley was pleased with him in Helsinki and his team selections suggests he feels there is a very important role for him at England. Alexander-Arnold is the only player who has played every single minute of Carsley’s reign as manager.

“There’s no surprises in terms of the quality he’s got and the areas of the pitch we can get him in, we were always going to be quite creative on that left-hand side because of the amount of players we’ve got,” said Carsley.

“Trent’s applied himself really well over the last few games. He’s got three man-of-the-matches in four games. He’s brought his Liverpool form into internationals and it’s brilliant to see.”

It is the first time that Alexander-Arnold has played four England games in a row, with the question of where to play him never solved by Southgate. Walker was also the right-back Southgate trusted, although at 34 he should expect intense competition on the horizon.

Alexander-Arnold is likely to provide it, given his form at Liverpool in that position. He took that form into this international break and got a £500 bonus out of it.