Trent Alexander-Arnold is in England’s preliminary World Cup squad - but Thomas Tuchel has better options
On Tuesday, England head coach Thomas Tuchel submitted his preliminary 55-man squad for the World Cup to FIFA. The FA aren’t expected to announce the players who made the longlist, but leaks suggest one slight surprise: Trent Alexander-Arnold appears to be under consideration.
The chances are that the full preliminary squad will never be revealed, but BBC Sport report that the Real Madrid right-back is among the players in the mix as The FA prepare to name the final 26-man squad for the summer on 22 May. Given that Alexander-Arnold has made just one appearance for his country since Tuchel took charge, it’s a relatively unexpected development – but as injuries pile up at the right-back position, could he really make it onto the plane?
Trent Alexander-Arnold could yet make the World Cup – despite Tuchel’s reservations
Under the current regime, Alexander-Arnold has played just 26 minutes for England – as a substitute in a 1-0 win over Andorra last June. Left out of every squad since then, it’s become apparent that the 27-year-old just isn’t Tuchel’s cup of tea.
England’s manager hasn’t made his reasoning any secret, either. Alexander-Arnold has always been far more of an offensive weapon than a trusted presence at the back, and while Tuchel has made plenty of use of highly aggressive wing-backs during his club career, he has preferred a much more conservative approach to the position with the Three Lions.
“Sometimes [Alexander-Arnold] relies heavily on his offensive contributions, and gives not so much emphasis on the defensive discipline and effort,” Tuchel told the media last May, shortly before handing him that one cap. "This major impact that he had for Liverpool over so many years, if he wants to have this impact in the English national team, then he has to take the defensive part very seriously.
“[In] tournament football, the one defensive error, the one moment where you are not 100 per cent awake, can be decisive, can be the moment where you pack your suitcases and go home.”
Even the staunchest proponents of Alexander-Arnold’s talents would have to acknowledge that he is prone to defensive lapses, and that he is far more effective on the ball coming forward than he is off it and heading back towards his own goal. The argument in his favour is that he is blessed with so much quality in attack that the trade-off is worthwhile.
Still, despite Tuchel’s reservations and the fact that Alexander-Arnold’s skillset meshes awkwardly with England’s current system, he has made the 55-man squad. That might have been intended largely as a sop offering when the decision was first made, a polite acknowledgment of his talents when other players were always ahead of him in the pecking order, but injuries mean that it may now take on greater significance.
Ben White, who is presumed to have been another name on the 55-man list after making Tuchel’s last squad in March, suffered a significant knee ligament injury in the 1-0 win over West Ham last weekend and is now expected to miss the World Cup pending further tests.
That injury happened just a couple of days after Eddie Howe confirmed that Tino Livramento would miss the rest of the season with a hamstring problem, the fourth injury that the Newcastle man has suffered this season. With Reece James only able to play half an hour since March as well, fitness issues have made right-back a sudden problem position.
James and Livramento are expected to be available for selection, but the latter in particular has struggled to string games together and his health has to be a concern. With what may have been Tuchel’s three preferred options all either out, doubts or worries, Alexander-Arnold may be a little closer to a trip across the Atlantic than most observers expected.
Tuchel still has alternatives – and they may suit him better than Alexander-Arnold
If Tuchel’s options are indeed winnowed down by injuries before he names his 26-man squad for the World Cup, then the clamour for Alexander-Arnold’s inclusion will reach fever pitch in certain sections of the media. He would certainly be the most talented option that England could reach for in a pinch. That doesn’t mean that he would be the best.
Tuchel has been consistent with his tactics from the moment he took charge of England: The left-sided full-back inverts into midfield in possession, allowing one of the central midfielders to push forward. The right-back, meanwhile, stays wide but has relatively limited scope to get into the final third. They are a defender first, support for the attack second.
It’s a system which reflects the broader direction of tactical travel in the elite game right now – teams have adapted to high presses and high defensive lines, and now look to exploit defences who leave too much space in behind with more direct passes. If too many defenders push too far upfield, they will usually be punished. As the era of the ultra-high press fades, so too has the age of the hyper-aggressive wing-back.
That’s unfortunate for Alexander-Arnold, but Tuchel’s decision to be more cautious in wide areas is a pragmatic one. He wants his right-back to be able to do their defensive duties, and to join the attack only when it’s safe or necessary to do so – and even then, typically from slightly deeper areas. James, England’s current first choice, has only rarely touched the ball inside the last 20 yards of the opposing half under Tuchel - a stark contrast to the advanced positions he found himself in when the Three Lions manager was in charge of Chelsea.
The upside to Alexander-Arnold in such a system is that the quality of his delivery from deeper areas out wide is exceptional. Few players have as precise a cross as him, and that’s a potent weapon which could be added to England’s arsenal. The concerns are his positional sense when forced to head back into his own half and his ability to shut down wingers in one-on-one situations.
Even at Real Madrid, Alexander-Arnold remains a player who loses most of his one-on-ones, who averages well under a tackle per game, and who doesn’t win possession back with the regularity of the best full-backs. He is a threat, but one who offers opportunities to the opposition even as he creates them for his own side. That’s anathema to what Tuchel is trying to achieve.
The England manager has previously said that Jarell Quansah, a natural centre-back but who has played at right-back on occasion and has operated wide in back three during an impressive debut season for Bayer Leverkusen, is ahead of Alexander-Arnold in the queue for that place. There is also Djed Spence, a solid defensive presence who can play on either side of a back four, and Ezri Konsa, who is probably leading the race to start at centre-back but who has distinguished himself in a wider role for England in the past. All are likely to be in the 55-player preliminary squad.
Konsa is the best one-on-one defender of the three by the stats, but has the least creative quality and is probably best off used through the middle alongside Marc Guéhi. Quansah is comfortably the best going forward, centre-back though he may be, and has an underappreciated passing range, but perhaps the least sound of the trio as a pure defender. Spence, who has lost his place in the Tottenham Hotspur side, represents the middle ground.
All are better defensively that Alexander-Arnold, however, and depending on Tuchel’s priorities all three can make a better case for inclusion in a conservative right-back role – and all three were in March’s squad for the games against Uruguay and Japan while Alexander-Arnold was left out.
Granted, picking any of those players to back up James – who should be fit enough barring unforeseen setbacks – would represent squeezing a square peg into a round hole positionally, but then picking Alexander-Arnold would be a questionable fit tactically even if right-back is his natural position.
The former Liverpool man may have made the preliminary squad, but all signs indicate that he won’t be on the flight when England head to Kansas City for their training camp. For all his talent, he simply doesn’t suit Tuchel’s system – and that means that others are likely ahead of him in the queue. Don’t be surprised if a player like Quansah is on the plane in his place.
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