FRANKFURT, Germany – Trent Alexander-Arnold's midfield experiment at Euro 2024 surely failed after he was moved into a central position, rather than his usual right-back role. England coach Gareth Southgate now has to wonder if he perseveres with a plan that has been at least a year in the making, which has so far shown virtually no signs of encouragement, or if he is planning something else in the middle of a tournament.
It is a worrying place. The Three Lions were lucky to escape Frankfurt with a 1-1 draw against Denmark on Thursday. Alarmingly for Southgate, they shortened the period in which they were good against Serbia and lengthened the bad ones, spending more than two-thirds of this game looking very disjointed and unable to exert any meaningful control.
Alexander-Arnold is an undeniably talented and versatile footballer, and despite being deployed in a “hybrid” role for Liverpool, where he moves centrally in attack, he has failed to deliver for England as a midfielder who can split defenses with his pass vision. He wasn't solely to blame for this – a collective malaise engulfed England almost from the moment Harry Kane gave them the lead in the 18th minute – but Southgate's hope that Alexander-Arnold can provide a new dynamic to his midfield It seems more wrong every time it happens. minute that passes.
For all the individual talent at Southgate's disposal, he is right when he claims that England lack a playmaker, which has been their downfall in the past – think Italy's Andrea Pirlo in 2012, Croatia's Luka Modric in 2018. , Frenkie de Jong in the 2019 Nations League semi-final, or Marco Verratti and Jorginho in the last Euro Cup. These are players capable of setting the pace of a team, the puppeteers who pull the strings.
Southgate admitted on Wednesday that Alexander-Arnold is not that type of player, but “what I do see is that range of passing and that ability to open up a defense that might be blocking space” before adding, “we know it's a job in progress.” That last line is an understatement on the evidence of England's first two games.
Arsenal's Declan Rice has become one of the best midfielders in Europe, but his best attributes are positioning, ball possession and, lately, moving forward with determination. The idea of a double pivot with Alexander-Arnold at his side is that the Liverpool man's impressive range of quarterback-style passing will unlock the best of England's rich pool of attacking talent, while his experience as a defender will help him improve his understanding of the offside game. -Possession requirements in that position.
Alexander-Arnold recently claimed that he spent around a year receiving advice from Southgate and his assistant Steve Holland on the details of his midfield role. A well-informed source told ESPN that the idea first came up before the last European Championship, in which Alexander-Arnold was out due to injury.
However, the idea is far from execution judging by England's matches in the tournament, as the bet on midfield is not paying dividends.
And as Southgate gathered his thoughts at Deutsche Bank Park, he admitted he has been grappling with the issue since taking charge in 2016, with a lack of control of England's midfield a traditional tournament failure.
“We've been trying to find a solution in midfield for seven or eight years,” Southgate said after the game. “If we hadn't had Declan Rice for the last few years, I don't know where we would have been.
“Unfortunately, Kalvin [Phillips] This tournament was not possible for us and [Jordan Henderson] the same thing, so we're trying to find something different. Some of it has worked, some of it hasn't worked so well, but over the years it's been a constant problem that we've tried to find the best way to solve and we need to do that in the coming weeks as well. “.
Most damning for Southgate is that his grand plan looked like a failure. This was precisely the type of test it was designed for: Denmark sat with a five-man defense out of possession, resilient and difficult to break down, but ended up dictating the conditions in the middle of the field.
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Morten Hjulmand, who equalized with a brilliant long-range shot in the 34th minute, dominated that area of the pitch with Christian Eriksen hovering between the lines further forward. His fluency negated the argument that a poor pitch that was easily sliced could explain England's choppy pace.
It was fitting that the goal England conceded came from a misplaced pass and a big gap in midfield, with England slow to close down Hjulmand. England worked on the pressure and lost possession with alarming regularity.
Southgate's decision to replace Alexander-Arnold with Conor Gallagher in the 54th minute was a more damning verdict than anything he was likely to say afterwards. Southgate usually waits until after the hour mark to change play; This was only the fifth time in 21 major tournament matches that he made the first substitution of the match.
What followed was even more surprising when Kane was taken off for Ollie Watkins when England needed a goal, part of a triple change that also saw Eberechi Eze and Jarrod Bowen replace Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden. Little improvement followed.
Southgate held a meeting with the players on Tuesday explaining why there was some negativity mixed with the reaction to England's opening win over Serbia. He may need to organize another in the coming days given the likely fallout here, a tone set by thousands of England fans inside the stadium booing the team at full-time.
“Perhaps the most important thing is that we have to accept the environment we find ourselves in and the expectations that surround us,” Southgate said. “We are going to have to walk towards that challenge. Right now we are a little short of that. Ultimately, that is my responsibility. I am the coach and I have to guide this group in the best way possible. To achieve extraordinary things You have to go through difficult moments. Today was a difficult moment for sure, especially towards the end of the game.
“We have to find the best way to resolve that. Of course we need the fans, you know we need the fans, but I have to say they have been brilliant, absolutely brilliant in the stadiums. And I can completely understand their frustration.” with the way we play, but what I would say is that these guys are not lacking effort right now.
“But we have to find a better way to play, we have to find more quality in what we are doing. I don't think people look at them and say: 'They don't care'. If anything, at the moment we care too much and we have “We have to find a way to strike the right balance.”
England remain top of Group C and victory over Slovenia in Cologne on Tuesday will secure them top spot. Of course, qualification is the first thing they can achieve, but the ultimate goal of winning their first European Championship still seems very far away.
Surely one of Gallagher, Kobbie Mainoo and Adam Wharton must enter your thinking against Slovenia. The fact that it has to consider such a dramatic rethink is cause for considerable concern.
