TRENT’S FEELING GOLDEN
I’m used to landing top prizes says TAA
from JEREMY CROSS in Doha TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD has told Gareth Southgate he can be an England game-winner at the World Cup.
The Liverpool ace has won just one cap in the last 12 months and he only scraped into the final 26-man squad following injuries to Reece James and Ben Chilwell.
The full-back would be content to remain on the bench and not kick a ball in anger in Qatar if it meant returning home with the trophy.
But when asked what he could bring to the team if called upon, Alexander-Arnold said: “A game-winner. Someone who can win games.
“Someone who can win trophies. Someone who knows how to win big games and the biggest tournaments. Even as a younger player, I have a lot of big games under my belt.
“To win the World Cup is the target. I do not have a personal target. I would say ‘win the World Cup,’ whether I am starting every game, coming off the bench to play or not playing a minute of it.
“If I leave Qatar and around my neck there is gold and there is a trophy floating around, then I will be more than happy.”
Alexander-Arnold’s defending has come under fire this season from critics in what has been a difficult campaign for Liverpool.
And while he admits his standards might have dropped, he couldn’t care less what people say and is only interested in the opinions of
Southgate and his club boss Jurgen Klopp.
He added: “It’s not the best football I have ever played and probably not the worst either. “Just somewhere in the middle, which is not amazing, not the worst. It could be a lot better. “I would say there has been a lot of spotlight on my defending and a massive magnifying glass on this aspect of my game. I would say for me, obviously like any part of my game, there are improvements to be made.
“A lot of people like to shout about the mistakes and the ones I could have done better in, rather than the ones I defended well. You defend three things well, one bad, they have a big chance and I have had a bad defensive game.
“People like to speak about what players cannot do and aren’t good at, rather than the good things, the positives.
“But I’m used to it now. For me, the only opinions that matter are from Gareth Southgate and Jurgen Klopp. No one else’s opinions matter.”