It took less than a week for Jurgen Klopp’s message to Trent Alexander-Arnold to be proven right following his return from a disappointing international break.
Having endured a below-par start to the season, plenty was said when the Liverpool defender was left out of Gareth Southgate’s matchday squad for England’s Nations League draw with Germany, having been left as an unused substitute for their defeat to Italy days earlier. With the Three Lions boss then coming out and admitting Reece James, Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker were all ahead of Alexander-Arnold in the pecking order, his World Cup place became under increasing doubt.
Klopp didn’t want to make unnecessary headlines when he was asked about Southgate’s view of the defender last week, though admitted when speaking ahead of his side’s clash with Brighton that he had held talks with Alexander-Arnold following his return from international duty. And it was here that his message of reassurance to the right-back was proven right.
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“That’s completely normal (that he wasn’t in party mood),” Klopp said last Friday . “It’s not like England won two games and he set up four goals. He (Alexander-Arnold) was completely normal.
“We had a talk. A normal talk. He’s not a joker. He’s coming in, ‘Boss, how are you?’ I just wanted to know how was it and he told me. I gave him my point of view on it and since then we just trained.
“In the next six weeks, I hope not for us and hope for nobody, but there will be injuries. Who knows who will be going to the World Cup. I can say, after what I’ve seen, the right-back position is not the problem of England.”
Sure enough, as Klopp reluctantly predicted, one of Southgate’s right-backs has already been struck down by injury since he made such a claim. And while it will seemingly aid Alexander-Arnold’s World Cup hopes, such a setback elsewhere will bring the German no joy.
Having been substituted after 41 minutes in Man City's 6-3 victory over Manchester United on Sunday, Kyle Walker has undergone successful surgery on a groin injury. Missing City's Champions League group game against FC København, Pep Guardiola admitted he was unsure if the 32-year-old would recover in time to go to the World Cup.
“It's something abdominal and he will be a while out,” the Spaniard confirmed. “I don't know (how long). I cannot say anything else.
“Kyle will be out for a bit. We have to speak to the doctors. Hopefully he can get (back for the World Cup) like Kalvin (Phillips). I know how important the World Cup is for the players but honestly I don't know right now.”
With over six weeks left until the start of the tournament to prove his fitness, it has been reported that Walker does have a chance of making the tournament in Qatar, depending on how the initial stages of his recovery go. He is sidelined in the short term at least though and, among other matches, will certainly miss City’s trip to Anfield on October 16.
Either way, he faces a race against time to prove his fitness in time for the World Cup. In contrast, with Liverpool still having 11 matches to play in the next five weeks before the Premier League breaks up, Alexander-Arnold has plenty of time to play his way back into World Cup contention.
Klopp will not have wanted to see Walker struck down by injury. If his right-back is to be included in Southgate’s World Cup squad, he wants it to happen based on improved performances on the pitch alone in the weeks ahead.
Of course the defender, who celebrates his 24th birthday on Friday, has perhaps taken the first steps to such an upturn in fortunes, having scored a spectacular free-kick in Liverpool’s 2-0 Champions League victory over Rangers on Tuesday in what was a much-improved performance.
Admittedly, regardless of Alexander-Arnold’s form, he still faces an uphill battle to win over his international manager. As has been the case for the entirety of his international career, he just isn’t Southgate’s first-choice.
He found himself in a similar situation last year after all, when he was left out of the England squad altogether in the final international break prior to Euro 2020. On that occasion he’d bounce back in impressive fashion with a majestic assist against Arsenal and stunning last-minute winner against Aston Villa, as his form forced Southgate to name all four right-backs in his Three Lions squads for the European Championships.
Yet a hamstring injury suffered in England’s penultimate warm-up friendly would rule the Liverpool man out of the Euros as the Three Lions reached the final. Now the right-back will be fighting to ensure he doesn’t miss out on successive international tournaments regardless of Walker’s recovery.
One reason that Alexander-Arnold isn’t favoured on the international stage is because of Southgate’s preferred system which utilises five defenders, with James and Trippier both experienced in playing as a wing-back at club-level and Walker trusted as a third centre-back when not turned to out wide.
But the Man City man was only tested in such a role on the eve of the 2018 World Cup because of an injury suffered by one of Alexander-Arnold’s Liverpool team-mates.
Given injuries have seen him drop down the pecking order for club and country, and he hasn’t been called up by England since suffering a serious knee injury on international duty that curtailed his progress in the first place in November 2020, it’s easy to forget Joe Gomez was first choice for his country when Southgate first turned to a five-man defence.
While such a system has recently been criticised for being overly defensive and lacking creativity, it is still the formation that saw England reach the World Cup semi-finals and European Championships final. And part of the reason for that five-man defence is to get the best from Harry Maguire at centre-back.
Admittedly now low on confidence, out of form and lacking game-time, prior to a recent injury, the calamitous 29-year-old still controversially started for England against both Italy and Germany during the most recent international break. Southgate was rewarded by the Manchester United captain being at fault for two goals in a hapless display during the 3-3 draw with Die Mannschaft.
Part of the reason why Maguire has been so exposed at club-level is his use in a centre-back partnership. When at his best for his country, he has been utilised as one of three centre-backs, with Walker’s pace offering him additional protection, and being left free to carry the ball out of his defence and focus on his strengths. He was even included in the Euro 2020 Team of the Tournament alongside the Man City man as both impressed in such roles.
Yet Walker only played his first game at centre-back for England in March 2018. Starting alongside both Gomez and John Stones, he remained in the role against Italy that month, as well as in victories over Nigeria and Costa Rica in June as James Tarkowski and Gary Cahill were trialled, before being unleashed alongside Maguire and Stones at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
However, having shone in his first international outings against Germany and Brazil in November 2017, Gomez was Southgate’s first-choice to provide the pace in his defensive trio before an ankle injury forced him off in that same friendly against the Netherlands. Undergoing surgery, he’d miss the World Cup as a result, with Walker filling such a role instead.
Between injuries, Gomez has picked up a further eight international caps since the last World Cup, starting seven of them at centre-back with his pace a welcome addition to compliment the likes of Maguire, even when utilising as a pairing.
But the aforementioned knee injury in November 2020 saw him sidelined until the following summer, ruling him out of the Euros and costing him his starting place for club and country in the process. Now behind Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate in the pecking order at Anfield, he hasn’t played for England since October 2020.
Now could Walker’s own injury re-open the door for the centre-back? Granted, he still needs to force his way back into Klopp’s starting XI first, but if the Man City man is a doubt for the World Cup, he could provide the pace at centre-back in a role that he was originally earmarked to fill in the first place.
Gomez’s international hopes could be about to come full circle with not just Alexander-Arnold looking to catch Southgate’s eye in the weeks ahead.
And while no-one likes to see any player getting injured, Klopp was quite right when insisting it was far too early to predict who will be going to the World Cup and that the door remains open to even the more unlikely contenders as a result.
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