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Jamie Carragher gives Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold crucial advice amid England struggles
England has had a problem with starting games well before fading away for years. A famous post-match interview from the then manager Sven-Göran Eriksson saw him issue this assessment: “First half, good, second half, not so good.”
The Three Lions plumbed this idea to new depths on Thursday. A 1-1 draw against Denmark which all-but confirmed England’s place in the knockout phase was hardly a disastrous result. The performance stank out the Waldstadion, though, and likely the streets of Frankfurt which immediately surround it too.
Analysis of England’s efforts inevitably focussed on Trent Alexander-Arnold, as it so often does. Former Liverpool defender and pundit Jamie Carragher added his opinion to the debate towards the end of the first half.
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Manager Gareth Southgate selected the same starting XI in a 4-2-3-1 formation which he deployed for the opening game of Euro 2024, a 1-0 win over Serbia. The platform in front of the defense was manned by Alexander-Arnold and Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice.
England started well, going ahead through Harry Kane in the 18th minute. However, the side then retreated, as it so often does, with the Danes drawing level through Morten Hjulmand a quarter of an hour later. It was around five minutes after the equalizer that Carragher offered Alexander-Arnold some advice, albeit only via X (formerly Twitter) where he obviously wouldn’t see it.
“Trent & Rice are far too deep when Denmark have the ball, they are too concerned with what’s behind them,” he wrote. “They need to stop what’s in front of them. Centre backs need to be screaming at them to get out to enable them to push out.”
Even if Alexander-Arnold could have acted on Carragher’s instruction, he would’ve had precious little time in which to act upon it. Southgate withdrew the Liverpool man just nine minutes into the second half, even though he created an Opta-defined big chance shortly before going off.
Carragher responded to comments from followers and suggested England's midfield pair are "always caught in between" pressing and sitting deep. Alexander-Arnold was the unfortunate fall guy against Denmark, and he likely will be again in future.
Liverpool.com says: Carragher could see the problems with England's set up and he was far from alone. So why couldn't Southgate? Or if he was aware, why did he do nothing about it? Alexander-Arnold's international ambitions are doing his skills a disservice at present.
