Jamie Carragher slams Gareth Southgate’s decision to pick Kieran Trippier over ‘world-class’ Trent Alexander-Arnold as England’s right wing back against Switzerland

Jamie Carragher reacted with shock after hearing that Gareth Southgate had chosen to select Kieran Trippier at right-back for the Euro 2024 quarter-final against Switzerland.

England manager Southgate decided to change his formation from 4-2-3-1 to 3-4-3 ahead of the match in Dusseldorf.

Kyle Walker has been England’s right-back for the opening four games of the tournament, but Southgate prefers to deploy the Manchester City captain at centre-back when playing with a three-man back line.

Southgate was therefore left to choose between Newcastle captain Trippier, who has played at left-back so far this summer, and Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Carragher, who has made 38 caps for England and 737 appearances for Liverpool, is convinced Alexander-Arnold was the right person to pick.

Respond to Saturday’s team news on Sky SportCarragher said: ‘Kieran Trippier has done well at left-back. He’s chosen him over Trent Alexander-Arnold, which I just can’t imagine. I mean, that’s not the Liverpool fan in me.’

Alexander-Arnold started England’s opening two Euro 2016 group games in midfield, despite having played most often at right-back at club level.

Carragher claimed he agreed with Southgate’s decision to choose Walker over Alexander-Arnold but that the 25-year-old was far better than Trippier.

‘I was happy with Kyle Walker playing right-back for England for a long time,’ Carragher explained. ‘I was happy with Gareth experimenting with Trent in midfield because he’s clearly a world-class player on the ball. It didn’t quite work out and he had to be taken out of the team.

“But the reason you would play Trippier over Trent, I just can’t understand. The only reason would be that Kieran has maybe played a few more games, maybe he trusts him. But when you say defensively, the whole point of playing three at the back is to free up your wingbacks. And you’ve got Kyle Walker behind you, he’s the quickest player in the squad to clear everything up if you get caught out defensively.

‘So not to put Trent in that position, I can’t believe it. I’ve got to be honest, I can’t. I can only imagine where his head is at the moment in this tournament. But Kieran Trippier is a player that Gareth trusts, he puts him in. Whether it’s left-back, right-back, right-back, left-back, he always seems to find a place for him. But I would have put Trent in that position.

Asked if he felt sorry for Alexander-Arnold, Carragher replied: ‘Yes, I do. But listen, I played in an era when there were a lot of great centre-backs. I played very rarely for England and Trent came through in an era when there were a lot of great right-backs.

‘Kyle Walker is clearly getting older and I think Trent Alexander-Arnold has to be England’s right-back after this tournament, whether that’s in a four-man defence or a five-man defence. You’ve got to give him a piece of your mind because he’s too good a player.

“But Kieran Trippier, as I said, he’s a good player. He didn’t have a great season at Newcastle. He’s done OK for England. He’s done really well at left-back, as well as he can. But to play for Trent, I don’t see that at all.

“Trent has world-class ability. Kieran Trippier is just a really good player who has had a difficult season at times for Newcastle. So yeah, I sympathise with him on this one. A lot of people said they sympathised with him in terms of midfield and then he got dropped. But you know, he got his chance in two games in midfield and he didn’t really perform. Or the rest of the team didn’t perform that well.

“So I thought, you know, you have to accept that he’s taken the team out. But I think this is going to be a very hard pill for him to swallow.”