Micah Richards delivers interesting verdict after watching Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield at Euro 2024

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Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold’s performance for England in central midfield has sparked a lot of debate.

The Three Lions were held to a 1-1 draw by Denmark at Euro 2024 on Thursday. The result was really disappointing but the performance was even worse.

Gareth Southgate got his tactics all wrong, and England were arguably lucky to have come away from the game without being on the losing side.

Alexander-Arnold has come under a lot of criticism since that game, but Micah Richards has leapt to his defence now.

Micah Richards explains why Trent Alexander-Arnold isn’t to blame for England’s poor display

England have played two games at Euro 2024 and Southgate still has no idea what his best lineup is.

The Three Lions have been all over the place in their opening two games. They haven’t been positionally disciplined and multiple players are occupying the same areas of the pitch.

Alexander-Arnold is naturally a right-back, but Southgate has been forcing him to play in the middle of the park. That simply hasn’t worked.

Yes, the Liverpool man should do better, but the England manager’s tactics are just not helping him. In fact, his strengths are being limited.

That is hurting both Alexander-Arnold and team, and the talented Englishman could end up losing his place in the side now even though most of the things that have gone wrong aren’t because of him.

Richards, who was a full-back himself, knows how different a role in midfield is, and he has now blamed Southgate’s system while defending Alexander-Arnold.

Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, he said: “If he’s going to play in midfield, give him a run of games in that position because going from full-back or the positions he takes up from the right or right-wing when he’s crossing in or going to the by-line is completely different to that role.

“I just think he’s sort of being, I won’t say hung out to dry, but he’s got more than what he’s showing but because of the system that’s being deployed, he’s not been able to show his greatest strengths.

“That is the frustrating thing.”

Two things Alexander-Arnold did vs Denmark better than every other England player

As things stand, Alexander-Arnold may have started his last game at Euro 2024. Southgate is under huge pressure to drop him.

That really is a shame as when the Liverpool man is deployed in the right system, he could be a game-changer in the middle of the park.

Alexander-Arnold has been receiving a lot of criticism for his performance against Denmark, and some of it is warranted.

However, the 25-year-old still managed to create more chances (3) and play more line-breaking passes in the final third (5) than any other England player despite leaving the pitch in the 54th minute (Opta).

That shows Alexander-Arnold’s class, but we don’t think he will be starting against against Slovenia on Tuesday.