Another week, another reason for Jurgen Klopp to be baffled by England's use of Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The Liverpool right-back has been a fixture for the Reds as they have won everything there is to win, starting three Champions League finals, playing all 38 league games in the 2019-20 title-winning season and being one of their standouts during their epic title battles with Manchester City. But at international level, it's a different story.
Alexander-Arnold has just 17 England caps, and only one this year, in the 1-0 UEFA Nations League defeat against Hungary. After failing to make it onto the pitch in either of the last two games for Gareth Southgate's World Cup hopefuls, the 23-year-old will surely be grateful to return to Anfield where he knows he has a starting berth.
"Against Germany we selected the squad because of the way we went with the team so we needed [Ben] Chilwell on the bench and we had Kieran who, at the moment, I feel his all round game is ahead [of Alexander-Arnold]," England manager Southgate said. Trippier started at Wembley, while Reece James was given the nod at the San Siro as England lost to Italy on Friday.
When we also consider Kyle Walker's involvement in both matches, albeit as the right of three centre-backs, Alexander-Arnold is Fourth choice in Southgate's mind when it comes to England's right-back ranks. That could still be enough to earn him a spot on the plane to Qatar - he was in the 26 for the Euros before injury struck - but it is a far cry from his high standing at Anfield.
Klopp is expected, as usual, to start Liverpool's No.66 this weekend for the game against Brighton, having used the academy talent in every game so far this season. And, based on the German's comments last year, he is very much at odds with Southgate over the Three Lions use of Alexander-Arnold.
Trippier is no slouch, of course, having won La Liga with Atletico Madrid before joining current club Newcastle United, while Walker has been a key component of City's success in recent years. James is a Champions League winner at Chelsea.
But at Liverpool, Alexander-Arnold is not just considered England's best right-back, but arguably the best anywhere in the world at what he does.
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"I am a manager myself - I make decisions every day, every weekend, every midweek about team selections and squad selections," Klopp explained. "We always make decisions that other people probably do not understand.
“I respect that Gareth makes his own decisions, of course, but I didn’t understand it because Trent Alexander-Arnold was in the last two seasons at least, let me say the season before and the season before that, the stand-out right-back in world football.
"That is the truth and at an unbelievable young age. I have no problem if my players get some criticism. They can get it from me, they can get it from other people, but that is the truth. He was the stand-out right-back in world football."
As Alexander-Arnold goes up against free-scoring Brighton on Saturday, it might be too late for him to move himself up the queue in Southgate's mind. After all, if the last few years haven't been enough to convince the manager, a few weeks' form is unlikely to make a huge difference when it comes to making selections for Qatar.
Still, England's loss can be Liverpool's gain. And with a hectic schedule likely to take its toll on most of the Premier League's big hitters, there are worse times for a player to get time off at international level.
