England: Scholes selects new position to start ‘wasted’ Alexander-Arnold in three changes for Slovenia
Paul Scholes during his role as a TNT Sports pundit
Paul Scholes has revealed that he would like Gareth Southgate to use Trent Alexander-Arnold in a new position when England face Slovenia on Tuesday.
Southgate has come under fire for insisting on playing the Liverpool right-back in midfield alongside Declan Rice at Euro 2024.
“His greatest strength is completely wasted…”
The England boss seemingly admitted that this experiment had failed in his side’s group game against Denmark on Thursday as Alexander-Arnold was replaced by Conor Gallagher after 53 minutes. This change did not alter the course of the game as The Three Lions were fortunate to draw 1-1.
This awful performance came after England underwhelmed in their opening game as they beat Serbia 1-0. These results leave Southgate’s side top of Group C after two games, but it is widely accepted that changes need to be made for Tuesday’s match against Slovenia.
Ex-England international Chris Waddle has argued that Alexander-Arnold is “completely wasted” when he’s played in midfield.
“Trent Alexander-Arnold is playing as part of a midfield two, and I don’t understand why Gareth Southgate has made that decision,” Waddle said.
“At England, there are no runners, so his greatest strength – his passing range – in that midfield role is completely wasted. He’s playing it simple because he has too – all these England players in front of him, except for Saka sometimes, want the ball to feet.
“Trent’s a wonderful player, but his best attribute is being wasted in this midfield role for England. If we’re going to play Trent in midfield, then Southgate needs to get more runners into his team. We need a player with the mindset to think ‘When Trent’s on the ball, I’m going to run behind my full-back because he’ll find me.'”
Man Utd legend Scholes has encouraged Southgate to start Alexander-Arnold at left-back, for Kobbie Mainoo to play next to Rice and for Cole Palmer to start on the right wing.
Scholes wrote: “Sunday am thoughts… TAA left-back, Kobbie Mainoo centre mid, Palmer on the right… would give reasons but too many touchy f***ers out there.”
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Scholes’ selections could see Foden drop to the bench, but the Man City standout thinks England are “finding their feet” at Euro 2024.
“I feel like the intensity has gone up a little bit,” Foden said.
“We’ve had a good start, we’re on four points, but we expect more from ourselves. I look around and the characters we have, we always expect more from ourselves. Training has gone up going into this game.
“It is such a great group here, everyone sticks together. Now I feel we’re finding our feet, we’re going into the third game full of confidence and trying to finish top of the group.”