England legend Gary Lineker has hit out at Gareth Southgate 's hotly-debated decision to drop Trent Alexander-Arnold for the Three Lions' clash with Germany.
The Liverpool right-back watched from the bench as Harry Kane 's late penalty snatched a 1-1 draw in Munich. England were by far the inferior side, as the hosts squandered a wealth of opportunities to give themselves a comfortable win in Nations League group A3.
Southgate's men, on the other hand, struggled to ever get going at the Allianz Arena, with misplaced passes a theme of a weary display. And that prompted Lineker to voice his opinion during the game, taking to Twitter and writing: "England trail and continue to struggle to pass the ball to each other and create anything, while the best passer in English football remains on the bench. That would be Trent Alexander-Arnold if you weren't sure."
Alexander-Arnold had started the Three Lions' previous match, a shock 1-0 defeat to Hungary, but was dropped by Southgate as England reverted to a four-man defence for the trip to Bavaria. Manchester City 's Kyle Walker got the nod at right-back and struggled to cope with Germany's left-hand side, made up of Hoffenheim star David Raum and ex-England under-21 international Jamal Musiala.
As Southgate made just two unforced substitutes to salvage a point, Alexander-Arnold was left to ponder his place in the Three Lions' plans ahead of the World Cup which begins in November. Criticised for his frequent defensive lapses at club level - arguably to blame for Real Madrid 's winning goal in the Champions League final last month - the 23-year-old has only earned 17 caps after first representing his country four years ago.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has often been critical of the England manager's decisions regarding his players such as Alexander-Arnold and fellow defender Joe Gomez. In September, Klopp questioned Southgate's use of "the best right-back in the world" as a playmaking midfielder to help England thrash Andorra 4-0 at Wembley.
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"In this game, in a game where England are that dominant for example, or that we are that dominant that Trent could play in midfield, I would rather he was the six than in this case the eight," Klopp declared.
"That is possible but why would you make the best right-back in the world a midfielder? I don't understand that really. As if the right-back position is not as important as the others. People who say that I struggle to understand how you could think that."
Alexander-Arnold will be hoping to feature when the Three Lions return home to welcome Italy and Hungary to Wolves ' home stadium, Molineux, on Saturday and Tuesday respectively. Southgate and co currently sit bottom of their group, which will conclude this September, and face the humiliating threat of relegation down to League B.
