Before Sunday’s Euro 2024 final, England needs Trent Alexander-Arnold more than anything else on and off the field. The Three Lions camp is about to undergo a guard change, therefore the Liverpool star’s mishandling needs to end.
Along with John Stones and Jude Bellingham, Trent Alexander-Arnold is one of just three players in England’s Euro 2024 roster to start and win a top European final. With Joe Gomez, Phil Foden, and Kyle Walker included, the vice captain of Liverpool is among the six players from Gareth Southgate’s 26-man roster who have played in a championship game.
Of course, the group includes winners of the Europa League and Europa Conference League, and last summer’s Under-21 European Championship was won by both Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer. However, if we are just discussing the Champions League or European Championships, the Three Lions have access to a small number of European thoroughbred champions at the pinnacle of international football.
In 2018, the Reds defender became the team’s first player to participate in a Champions League final. Along with Gomez, he was the first to win a European championship in 2019 a full year later. The 25-year-old has more experience and an elite winner’s mindset than others because he has already won every major award that has been given to him.
Naturally, he had to work hard to achieve these honors, having been demotivated by his previous year’s failure. Not only did he win the Champions League final in 2019 after losing the competition in the largest club competition in European football a year before, but he also won the Premier League for the first time in 2020, missing out on the championship by only one point to Manchester City the year before.
Try again if you don’t succeed the first time. Along with Gomez and the Man City players in Southgate’s team who lost their own Champions League final to Chelsea in 2021, Alexander-Arnold is living example of the well-known adage.
Although qualifying for an elite final is a feat, it does not equate to success. And as England get ready for their second consecutive European Championship final against Spain on Sunday, Southgate’s team has discovered this the hard way.
“It feels different than it did in 2021.” Ahead of that decisive meeting in Berlin, Southgate told BBC Sport, “As a team, we’re in a different moment now that we’ve played two tournaments and have a lot more big match experience.”
“I suppose there was less of a party, maybe less happiness over making it to the final. Though it’s not exactly routine, it does become something more typical for us. Given our past, that remark alone is perhaps a little absurd.
England has to adopt that mindset, as Alexander-Arnold has already learned with Liverpool a long time ago. In order to attain success, they must uncover the true winning attitude by making such remarkable achievements look quite commonplace.
Alexander-Arnold recently stated on Lions’ Den, “Our mentality cannot change,” exemplifying this. “In every game you play, in training, and everywhere else you go, you have to be merciless…
“I think it’s a crime to even be doubtful before a final. Whatever your path, your style of play, or the opinions of others, making it to the competition’s final is a fantastic accomplishment; winning it would be even greater.”
The only players left from the team that lost to Italy three years ago are Aaron Ramsdale and Dean Henderson, who were allowed to replace Henderson after the Three Lions’ opening match. The Reds defender missed Euro 2020 due to an injury he sustained in one of England’s warm-up friendlies.
In actuality, then, those eleven players who lost at Wembley in the summer of 2021 will be attempting to correct the record in Berlin. Eleven athletes who have previously failed at the last hurdle and wish to avoid going through it again. There are 11 players that can draw motivation from players like Alexander-Arnold to make sure that a dismal past doesn’t happen again Even if just half of that is realized, he ought to be just what they need, on and off the field.
It is unfathomable that a skill like this is still being overlooked; he is one of England’s most outstanding talents and ought to be listed among the first names on every teamsheet when one becomes available. To the dismay of the red half of Merseyside, however, it appears that Southgate has a different opinion, despite a clumsy, shoehorned, and hastily abandoned attempt in Germany. This time, he has almost gotten away with it, but undoubtedly won’t for very long.
In actuality, the Liverpool player’s experience at the European Championships has been uneven due to criticism of Southgate’s use of him. Despite starting the tournament as the starting right-back, out of position in midfield, the player was blamed for England’s lackluster performances. Now cue the tired and lazy ‘can’t defend’ narrative that some people keep pushing.
He was benched after being forced to withdraw early from unsatisfactory team performances against Denmark and Serbia. Since then, he has been positioned in a starting lineup with attacking players who aren’t the best fit to utilize his signature passing ability.
After making late replacement appearances against Slovenia and Switzerland, he smiled on Kopite’s face when he scored the game-winning penalty in the quarterfinals, marking the pinnacle of his international career thus far. However, he was not played in the wins over Slovakia and the Netherlands in the round of 16.
It’s absurd that Southgate has time and time again failed to bring out the best in Alexander-Arnold and integrate one of England’s most naturally talented players into his lineup for Liverpool fans who watch the guy every week. Even if his selection of the Reds vice captain has generated controversy, the Three Lions manager has managed to overcome all odds and lead a struggling team to another final. And ever since the 25-year-old was benched and the lineup was altered, performances have gotten better little by little.
Without a doubt, the England team that takes the field against Spain will include players who are out of position, ineffective towards the end of the season, or injured. Despite being their worst lineup on paper, the Three Lions XI without Alexander-Arnold has shown to be their best due more to luck than skill in the brutally fast-paced nature of tournament play.
Even if the defender is fully aware that he will, at most, only be able to make a cameo appearance in Sunday’s final, he at least possesses the proper mindset in such trying circumstances.
“I would have preferred to maintain my spot in the team and be the starter in every game,” he told reporters following his game-winning penalty against Switzerland. “However, I appreciate the decisions the manager has taken.
We are still competing because they were effective. The team always comes first, and you have to accept that in order to give them the best chance and to be prepared for your moment, whenever it arrives.
“As I have done thus far, I will give it everything I have. Do everything that is asked of me, learn as much as I can, and try to get better at everything.
However, it is challenging when you don’t play there every week for your team. Although it’s certainly a different position for me, I had fun learning and performing in it.
“There isn’t a bad feeling or energy associated with any of the choices. The other day I was the perfect example of how you have to be prepared for the moment when it arrives.
“I believe that my journey in football has involved ups and downs thus far,” he said. My highs and lows, and it’s during those times that you realize the mental challenges you can face and conquer.
Therefore, I believe I’m in a position to handle anything the game throws at me and that I can perform and do my best in whatever role that is. Therefore, I don’t feel under pressure or have a certain mindset.
“My goal is to help the team win the game, so no matter what, when the manager tells me that I have five or six minutes left, I know what to do, I know my role, and my mindset is right.”
All 26 of us want to play as many minutes as possible as players. We all appreciate the manager’s decision to select a team because, obviously, it isn’t doable. You have a part to play when you get onto the field, regardless of how many minutes you play.
“That is something that we have all believed in from the start. Regardless of the part you play, you deserve this medal. That sense of unity is evident throughout the group.
For me, it’s all just a part of playing football. The game transports you on an adventure.
Undoubtedly, Alexander-Arnold’s path at the European Championships has not been one that supporters of Liverpool will particularly approve of. The Reds defense has no choice but to respect it, though.
He played his part, entering the game against Switzerland and winning it handily. He could accomplish it again in the narrow margins of a championship match versus Spain. But even if he doesn’t play much and is only used in the locker room, his second-time European final victory might still be extremely important.
With all of the talk about Southgate’s future, it does feel like a change of guard is imminent with the England team, regardless of what happens on Sunday. There will be changes in the team once the managership is transferred, regardless of whether he continues in that role. Actually, they’ve already gotten going.
Jordan Henderson, the 34-year-old former vice captain, was benched before the European Championships, while Raheem Sterling, who turns 30 later this year, hasn’t been picked since the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. Kyle Walker is currently 34, Kieran Trippier is 34 following the September international break, Lewis Dunk is 33 in November, and Harry Maguire, who was injured and missed the tournament, is 31, With Harry Kane approaching his 31st birthday and John Stones approaching his 30th, these players are moving into a potential arena where they may have participated in their final European Championship, if not their final major international competition entirely.
Alexander-Arnold may not have had much of a role in England; his detractors now write him off as a full-back as well as a midfield player. However, there is a clear international vacancy coming up. Walker and Trippier are the two elder statesmen, thus the right-back spot will be up for grabs heading into the USA, Canada, and Mexico 2026 World Cup.
Even if they decide to continue playing for their countries, it would be shocking to see them start before Alexander-Arnold at the height of his abilities. He needs to take on a role of his own. If not, the Three Lions will be haunted for years to come by the untimely end of an international career and the latest selection conundrum, à la John Barnes or the Steven Gerrard/Frank Lampard pairing.
In other areas, aging stars elsewhere may help players like Curtis Jones and Jarell Quansah, who made the preliminary team for the European Championships this summer, contribute more to Liverpool in upcoming squads.
Similarly, even though Gomez hasn’t played a game in Germany, he is still young enough to establish himself at 27.
Though they may only play supporting roles, Alexander-Arnold and Gomez might win the European championship once more on Sunday, five years after winning the Champions League in Madrid. That’s disheartening in and of itself, but as England looks to put an end to 58 years of international suffering, their experience with the Reds will be helpful to their international counterparts. Although both defenders will make Liverpool fans proud, they are aware that the former is at least superior to the latter.
Euro 2024 must now serve as a springboard for Liverpool’s vice captain to learn from his mistakes and for the Three Lions to eventually find a method to organically integrate him into their strongest lineup, rather than only serving as another illustration of his mishandling. He can no longer be a squad player come the next competition.
“In five to ten years, we’ll look back and laugh at how we couldn’t get Trent Alexander-Arnold on the team,” Gary Neville said earlier in the competition while in Germany as a pundit. “Now that Walker is a member of the team, we’ll laugh,”
However, this is no funny issue, and there are no more justifications. Alexander-Arnold has been clumsy for far too long and ought to be in this starting lineup. As the next generation takes over, he should be about to make an England place his own at last.
Then, the only thing that will make people chuckle is how long it took them—six years after his international debut—to find a spot for him in the first place.
It’s also not too soon, even though he still deserved better than this largely disappointing solo trip around Germany. All that can be hoped for is that it now concludes happily in Berlin.
