Sam Allardyce has aired some strong opinions regarding Trent Alexander-Arnold amid the ongoing debate about whether he’ll start for England at Euro 2024 and what position he’ll play.
The Liverpool vice-captain is nominally a right-back but has frequently been used in midfield by Gareth Southgate over the past year, and he even alternated between both positions in the same match during the recent win over Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, the former Bolton and Blackburn manager (among numerous other clubs) called for those bemoaning the 25-year-old’s usage as a midfielder to cease and desist.
Allardyce grumbled: “He can play full-back and he can play in central midfield. People will say he won’t be as effective as Bellingham or Rice because he’s not a midfield player. They don’t know! Keep your mouth shut, they don’t know.”
Gesturing to Stephen Warnock alongside him – the ex-Liverpool defender played under the 69-year-old at Ewood Park – the former England boss quipped: “He played in midfield when I asked him to!”
From our point of view, any time we’ve seen Trent playing a midfield role for England over the past 12 months, he’s done a stellar job – his long-range assist for Bukayo Saka against North Macedonia last year was out of this world.
We agree with Allardyce on this one – the Liverpool vice-captain is very much capable of excelling in the middle of the park for his country at Euro 2024, if he’s given the chance to do so.
