Roy Keane lambasted a specific part of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s game despite the Liverpool defender scoring a glorious free-kick and equipping himself well while playing out of position at left-back during England’s 3-1 Nations League win over Finland.
England led 1-0 with 15 minutes remaining when Alexander-Arnold stepped up to bend a curling free-kick into the top corner from 25 yards out before Declan Rice added a late third to give interim manager Lee Carsley a much-needed win.
As part of Carsley’s latest experimental line-up, the Liverpool star started at left-back – a position he has never played for his country and rarely for his club – as Kyle Walker was given the nod in his normal right-back role.
The 26-year-old offered a consistent attacking threat down the left, in addition to grabbing a spectacular goal, and while ITV pundit Keane acknowledged the quality of the free-kick, he chose to heavily criticise him for another aspect of his game.
“Great technique, you can see his standing foot, technique is fantastic. No chance for the goalkeeper. I’m usually harsh on goalkeepers but I’ll go easy on that one,” Keane said of the free-kick.
But he went to add: “‘You give time to Trent, because his decision making and quality of passing is fantastic, but I can’t believe how bad he is defensively and against better teams he’ll be punished.
“If you saw him the other night defending (against Greece), it looked like he’d never played right-back before!”
Alexander-Arnold has been a favourite of interim England boss Carsley, making four consecutive starts for the first time in his international career. And fellow pundit Ian Wright was far less critical than Keane, even if he’s not sure left-back is the correct long-term position for him.
“I don’t think he did much defensively to make you say, “OK that’s the position he’s going to play”,” conceded Wright. “But from a creative point of view, Lee Carsley wants as many creative players in the deep end of his football team as possible. I can’t see it being something that happens too frequently (Alexander-Arnold playing at left-back).”
Having scored the free-kick, Alexander-Arnold will now be a slightly richer man after Jack Grealish revealed in a post-match interview that he made a £500 bet with his Three Lions teammate.
Grealish stood over the free-kick with Alexander-Arnold and said he would give the Liverpool defender a bonus if he scored, which he duly did, meaning the Man City man will need to pay up.
“I joked to Trent before the free-kick, ‘score this I will give you 500 quid’,” Grealish told ITV. “And he slapped it in top bin.”