Gary Lineker defends Trent Alexander-Arnold and calls out Tuchel’s public criticism

Gary Lineker remains one of the most respected voices in England when it comes to discussing the national team. The former Barcelona striker earned 80 caps for England and scored 48 goals, giving him plenty of authority on the subject. Now, he’s stepping in to defend Trent Alexander-Arnold after Thomas Tuchel publicly criticized the right-back for being a potential defensive liability who could cost the national team in major tournaments.

Tuchel had suggested that Alexander-Arnold relies too heavily on his attacking qualities and doesn’t show the same commitment defensively, saying that “one defensive error, the one moment where you are not 100 per cent awake, can be decisive, can be the moment where you pack your suitcases and go home.”

On his The Rest is Football podcast Lineker didn’t hold back in his response, labeling Tuchel’s comments as “distinctly odd and unusual”.

“I don’t see why Tuchel would have said that," Lineker began. “It’s a very bizarre statement for a manager to make. I remember thinking similar things at the time, but he’s the guy in charge so it doesn’t particularly bode well for Trent.

“You can’t have your coaches and managers talking negatively about you in public. That’s wrong, Tuchel shouldn’t have done that. I don’t know what possessed him to do it. If you think that, that’s fine and you can have private conversations with the player addressing the issues. But you don’t do that publicly just to justify your own decisions, it’s just wrong”.

Lineker on the positive aspects of Trent’s game

The former England forward has long been one of Alexander-Arnold’s biggest supporters.

“He’s saying he’s not as strong defensively as he is attacking... Oh really? Who would have thought that? The reason for that is he’s one of the best attacking players in world football. I mean I’ve always been very pro-Trent. The whole thing about his defensive side, if you play him that far forward and move him into midfield, there are going to be elements when you don’t defend particularly brilliantly. But other right-backs make mistakes as well and nobody says anything. If a player goes past Trent, it’s ‘Oh see, there’s his weakness’. So it became this thing that people looked for, more than probably in reality that was there. No player can do everything brilliantly”.

Trent has struggled to lock down a regular place at Real Madrid since joining the Spanish giants last summer. Not only has he been competing for the right-back position with team captain Dani Carvajal, he’s been unlucky suffering three separate injuries which have held him back. In total he spent 106 days in the sickbay.

He has completed just three full games this season, taking part in 13 overall. He recently returned after spending almost 10 weeks out with a muscle tear injury, and was handed his first start on Saturday in the 4-1 win over Real Sociedad.

Trent, Carvajal and a World Cup year

The two Madrid right-backs will be hoping to get enough game time to put themselves in contention for a place at this summer’s World Cup - Trent with England and Carvajal, who is hoping to be with Spain in what would almost certainly be his last World Cup.

Trent’s last outing for the national team was in the 0-1 win over Andorra in June when he came on as a second half sub - it is his only appearance under Tuchel. Chelsea’s Reece James is first choice under the German coach with Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa and Tottenham’s Djed Spence also in the running for a place in England’s World Cup squad.

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