Gary Neville has appeared to have a change of heart over whether Trent Alexander-Arnold should start for England.
Neville has previously explained that Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate cannot afford to pick the Liverpool right-back over his defensive liabilities but now believes that the 24-year-old should be starting for his nation.
The Liverpool defender has won just 17 caps for England since his debut in 2018 and has been capped just once this year. He has not played a minute of either World Cup game so far as England demolished Iran 6-2 before playing out a bore draw against USA on Friday night.
Kieran Trippier has been selected in the right-back position in both matches by Southgate in a tournament in which Kyle Walker has been unavailable for selection due to fitness while Reece James has missed the World Cup entirely due to injury.
"I’m torn because I’ve got lot of respect for Gareth and what he’s achieved - he’s achieved the most since Alf Ramsey,” Neville explained on ITV on Friday during coverage of England’s clash against the USA. “But we’ve got a couple of talents sat on the bench in the form of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Foden who are capable of opening up the game.
“Alexander-Arnold has some of the best deliveries you’ll ever see from full-back and on that right side when (Marcus) Rashford came on, he had (Jordan) Henderson and (Kieran Trippier so he was blocked from getting that delivery in. I think those two coming off the bench is a little bit disappointing, if you’re trying to win the game, they’re world class talents."
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Neville added when pushed on why Southgate was continued to overlook Alexander-Arnold for selection: "I think he’s worried about him defensively. If we’re not confident of playing him when we’re playing USA, who had a comfortable third game when we were going to play the whole of the bench.
"We haven’t got that now and that’s fine, no panic here. Other nations, France, Spain, Brazil would have Trent Alexander-Arnold and Foden in their starting 11. I understand it from watching it a little bit having watched Trent Alexander-Arnold, you see a game of that where we lack creativity you think them two players should really be in there."
