Gareth Southgate insisted Trent Alexander-Arnold’s midfield performance was a success in England’s opening win over Serbia at Euro 2024.
The Three Lions got up and running in Group C with a nervy 1-0 win, failing to kick on after Jude Bellingham’s header gave them a deserved lead in an impressive start.
Alexander-Arnold was heavily involved in those early exchanges, drifting across the pitch, though there was an example of the potential downside of playing the Liverpool star in midfield when he lost the ball on the edge of his own area and Aleksandar Mitrovic fired just wide.
Conor Gallagher came on to replace Alexander-Arnold for the final 20 minutes, as Southgate attempted to bring some control to proceedings, with Serbia increasingly pinning England back in search of an equaliser.
The Chelsea midfielder won a number of late fouls to help his side tick away the seconds, and it remains to be seen who gets the nod alongside Declan Rice for Thursday’s clash against Denmark.
Asked for his verdict on Alexander-Arnold’s performance, Southgate responded: “Good. I have to say he’s been really diligent in getting his positioning right.
“Obviously Jude goes forward a lot, so I thought Trent adapted and adjusted to his positioning really well. Used the ball well, obviously had a really good effort on goal. In the end we wanted some fresh legs in there, Conor can get to the ball quickly. We’ve got a squad and we need to use it.”
Denmark’s draw with Slovenia earlier in the day means England sit top of their group, but there will be concerns over what turned into a passive display after such a positive first 25 minutes.
A header from Harry Kane, tipped onto the bar by Predrag Rajkovic, was as close as England came to doubling the lead, with the focus more on holding onto the one-goal advantage, and Southgate was impressed as his side did just that.
“They’re a strong team, we had to suffer a bit, which I think is really good for us,” the England boss.
“To come through and defend our box the way we did under pressure is important for the group. We obviously had good chances to extend the lead and kill the game, which we didn’t manage to take. i was really pleased with a lot of the play.”
He added: “I liked the fact that we had to suffer a bit without the ball, because that’s an area of the game that we’ve worked on a lot this week. We were obviously so much better than we were last week in doing that.”
