ALL RIGHT ON THE NIGHT
Southgate happy to face a four-midable selection dilemma
GARETH SOUTHGATE has vowed to put England’s best footballers in his enlarged 26-man squad for the European Championships.
His only problem is they are all right-backs!
Trent Alexander-Arnold was relieved to rejoin the international fold when Southgate named a provisional 33-man squad ahead of the two friendlies next week and the more serious business of the Euro 2020 finals.
However, he will be joined on Saturday by Kieran Trippier, with Reece James and Kyle Walker heading to St George’s Park too, after their Champions League final in Porto.
“I know people think I have an obsession with right-backs,” Southgate joked. “I just see four good footballers. Well it’s a good methodology isn’t it? ‘Let’s pick the best players’.
“With the 23, you think more in your head about a utility player that might become even more valuable. But these boys are outstanding footballers. They can receive under pressure, they can find passes, they can create goals.
“They are modern, adaptable players and they are hugely exciting to work with.”
Realistically, Aaron Ramsdale, Ben Godfrey and Ben White are unlikely to make the final cut.
Walker is a shoo-in, but even if Southgate dispenses with one of his other right-backs, there are three more victims left to find.
Jesse Lingard, Ollie Watkins, Mason Greenwood and Bukayo Saka look the lowest-hanging fruit.
When Southgate finally declares his 26 names, the message to them will be clear, though.We may have had to wait an unprecedented 12 months for this finals tournament to arrive, but now is very much their time, the 50-year-old believes.
“At these stages, the big games and the big moments are where you make your reputation and your legacy,” Southgate said. “You stamp your name on football history.
“That is what is so exciting for the players to be involved. For the big players of the past, a lot of those moments have come for them in an international shirt. That is the real opportunity to be players who step up in those moments. If we want to be a successful team, we have to live with that little bit of pressure that comes with this situation.
“It is exciting to be leading an England team to a European Championship that has an opportunity to bring the country out of the gloom of the past few months.”
Alexander-Arnold certainly seized his moment with the short corner against Barcelona two years ago and Southgate is holding the door wide open for him to impress again this week.
“When you leave a player out it feels as if that doesn’t match up,” added Southgate. “But we have communicated regularly since.
“He has indirectly come in for some criticism at a certain time and people tend to think I don’t think Trent isn’t a good footballer.
“I’m a little bit surprised by some of the things that have been written about that and I felt the need to communicate more with him than anybody else over the past couple of months
“It is credit to Trent that he has kept that to himself. Trent is very much in contention.
“After all, he is a very good footballer – and that has never been in any doubt.”
You stamp your name on football history