Beckham fan Trippier set to be Lions’ trump card
REPINO: When Gareth Southgate’s England World Cup squad was announced, plenty of observers wondered how the team would be able to compensate for the absence of a genuine creative midfielder.
Who would create the chances for the talented collection of forward players, in particular centre-forward Harry Kane? The answer in Russia has proven to be, for some, an unlikely one — right-back Kieran Trippier.
Indeed not only has the Spurs wide-man provided a muchneeded solution for England, he has also been one of the tournament’s top performers.
According to statistics by Opta, the top three creators of chances in this tournament are Brazil’s Neymar, Belgium’s Kevin De Bruyne and Trippier.
“Somebody mentioned that to me — not bad for a Bury lad!” laughed Trippier, referencing his hometown, near Manchester.
“The (England) formation is perfect for me. I can get forward as much as I can and try to get the crosses in and help my team as much as I can. If I manage to help them I am delighted,” he said. Trippier has always been a very attackminded full-back, right from his days in Manchester City’s youth team, to his time with Burnley under Sean Dyche, and then under Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham. But in Southgate’s system, with three central defenders, including rightsided Kyle Walker to offer cover, Trippier is so advanced he spends a large part of the game operating basically as a rightwinger. “It is a little bit different to the way I play for Tottenham. If one wing-back is higher, the other one tucks back just to make it four at the back.”
The housing estate where Trippier’s family live is wellknown for the 20-foot flagpole with a St George’s flag emblazoned with the full-back’s name that the player’s father Chris put in his garden. There is also a giant television where family and friends have been able to watch the games from Russia, including win over Colombia.
As well as his tireless running down the flanks, Trippier’s main quality is his ball-striking, both from set-pieces and crosses from wide. It is an element of his game he worked on hard as a young player with then Man City youth team coach Steve Eyre. Trippier also studied the delivery techniques of some of the finest in the game. “I used to watch (David) Beckham and (Andrea) Pirlo, players like that, over their careers. Beckham was the one I always looked up to — the technique, his crossing, on the move or set pieces. He’s the one I used to look up to on crossing the ball for sure,” he said. sportm@hindustantimes.com