By Betsefy
England boss Gareth Southgate has addressed his decision to leave Trent Alexander-Arnold out of the squad for the 1-0 defeat to Italy.
Although Alexander-Arnold has been called up for the current international period, he was left out of the matchday squad for Friday’s meeting with Italy.
Instead, Southgate opted to start Kyle Walker and Reece James, while Kieran Trippier was among the substitutes for the defeat, which confirmed England’s relegation from League A of the UEFA Nations League.
Speaking ahead of Monday’s Nations League encounter with Germany, Southgate has commented on his decision to leave Alexander-Arnold out of Friday’s squad.
The England manager told reporters: “I don’t see risks. You can have a style of play and a way of playing, and a balance to the team, that… at Liverpool they find a way of playing that brings the best out of his attributes and that’s what we’re all trying to do with every team
“You’re trying to build a team that accentuates the positives, and within the group protects yourselves against how the opponents might come from you.
© Reuters
“He does have a fantastic range of passing, we’re blessed with different profiles of player in that position.
“If we play with wing-backs, Trippier and Reece James are also exceptional with the ball, in different ways, and we’re always having to look at the full package with everything.
“If you assess the players on all of their attributes, they’ve all been to Champions League finals, some of them have been to latter stages of major tournaments with us, Trent’s won the league, Trippier’s won the Spanish league, Walker’s won the English league.
“There are so many good attributes about them, it’s a really difficult position to make decisions on, but we have to go with the ones we believe, and ultimately I’ll be judged on the outcome, as we know.”
Alexander-Arnold will be hoping to be involved against Germany as he looks to impress Southgate before the World Cup squad is announced.
