Trent Alexander-Arnold believes becoming Gareth Southgate’s midfield dynamo is his best shot of shining for England.
The Liverpool star excelled in a roaming role in Friday’s 4-0 Euro 2024 qualifying win in Malta.
His stunning first-half strike, the 24-year-old’s second England goal, capped a fine performance as he lined up alongside Jordan Henderson and Declan Rice.
Alexander-Arnold, first played in midfield by Southgate against Andorra in 2021, has also seen his role at Liverpool evolve and feels the position is a strong option with England given the competition at right-back.
He said: “It’s certainly an avenue. One that is clearly being explored and is something the manager wants to explore and I want to explore. It is one that is exciting for the future and who knows?
“For me, I want to make sure I am playing as many England games as possible and that has always been the aim, causing headaches for the manager. I think this is a potential route we can go down that will help me get into the team.
“I think there is definitely potential there. It is just about putting questions into the manager’s mind, knowing that I can play in there and bring qualities to the game that other players can’t. Hopefully causing headaches is what I need to be doing.”
Alexander-Arnold added to Ferdinando Apap’s early own goal, with Harry Kane and Callum Wilson netting penalties to maintain England’s grip at the top of Group C.
He finished the season in a more advanced central role for Liverpool and admits his positional change at Anfield has been tricky.
“There were a lot of questions involved,” he said. “There was me asking questions and absorbing a lot of information about where I needed to be and how I need to play the game.
“There was also me feeling natural in there, feeling like it is something I’ve always done and something I could do regularly. I would say it was definitely a mixture of both.”
England host North Macedonia at Old Trafford on Monday, with Southgate considering using Alexander-Arnold in midfield again.
He has just 19 caps and Southgate knows playing for his nation has not been straightforward for him.
He said: “For me, the most pleasing part is that a lot of time with England it’s been difficult. Not our relationship as I’ve always got on well with him, but you’re giving him a lot on confidence because you’re investing in him something specific where he will have different feel about it.
“I’m sure he will probably have enjoyed this England game more than any other. I’ve always said he’s a talent we’re trying to find a way with – he’s been unfortunate that we have such high quality full-backs and experienced full-backs.
“It’s hard to give somebody the faith. It’s a bit like when we went to tournaments with five or six wingers, you can’t have them all believe that they’re the favourite son because you can’t justify that with your actions in the end.
“So whenever you’re putting other players in, it’s inevitably going to hit somebody’s confidence.”
Mbappe position switch works wonders for Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti was satisfied his tactical decision to switch Kylian Mbappe's position in attack paid off in Real Madrid's 3-0 win over Leganes.
Mbappe scored his seventh goal of the season to help Madrid to a comfortable victory in LaLiga on Sunday.
However, his position in Madrid's front line has been a topic of debate since he joined the Spanish champions, with Mbappe having often played out wide while at Paris Saint-Germain.
And Ancelotti elected to switch Mbappe out to the left flank against Leganes, with Vinicius Junior spearheading Los Blancos' attack.
"Mbappe played on the left side, where he did well, and Vinicius on the inside," Ancelotti told reporters.
"We have to highlight their play to open the scoring. They did very, very well. Mbappe scored, after a fantastic assist from Vinicius. Little by little, they're both improving.
"Kylian is more used to playing there and today, for the team and for him, it was the best thing.
"Because playing on the outside brings more effort and Vinicius was back on Thursday. Meanwhile, Kylian had been training here for a week and a half, he was fresher."
Mbappe was not called up by France coach Didier Deschamps for this month's Nations League games, despite being Les Bleus' captain.
With an injury crisis at the back and a trip to Anfield to face Premier League and Champions League leaders Liverpool coming up, Ancelotti added he was hopeful of Lucas Vazquez, who has a hamstring strain, and Aurelien Tchouameni, who is recovering from a sprained left ankle, returning to action.
He was also upbeat about the contribution of Federico Valverde, who scored from a free-kick while filling in at right-back.
"The truth is that Fede, at the back, has done very well," said Ancelotti of the Uruguayan, who also wore the captain's armband.
"He's a fantastic fullback. After Dani Carvajal and Lucas Vazquez, the best right-back in the world. His problem is that he can play at this level in many positions and is the coach's problem to choose the best position for the team.
"Let's see if Lucas and Tchouameni can recover. If not, we will make decisions."
Jude Bellingham netted Madrid's other goal as Ancelotti's team closed to within four points of LaLiga leaders Barcelona, who drew 2-2 with Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Madrid also have a game in hand on Hansi Flick's side.
Orlando City 1-0 Atlanta United: Enrique strike sets up Red Bulls clash
Atlanta United beat Inter Miami in the first round of the MLS playoffs, yet their postseason came to an end with a 1-0 defeat to Orlando City.
The Five Stripes went into Sunday's Eastern Conference semifinal at Inter&Co Stadium full of confidence after ditching Lionel Messi and the rest of Miami's stars out of the playoffs last time out.
Yet it was Orlando who, for the first time in club history, booked their place in the Eastern Conference finals thanks to Ramiro Enrique's 39th-minute winner.
Enrique tucked in from close range after Atlanta failed to clear their lines from a corner.
That goal came after Orlando had started brightly, with Dagur Thorhallsson hitting the woodwork early on before Facundo Torres saw an effort cleared off the line.
Buoyed by a fine record against Orlando, who they had lost to just four times in 22 meetings ahead of this contest, Atlanta pressed for an equaliser after the break, but they could not find a way through a robust Lions defence.
Orlando will now host the New York Red Bulls in next week's Eastern Conference final, with a place in the MLS Cup final on the line.
Data Debrief: Stay away from the Lions' den
Fresh from the Orlando Pride's victory in the National Women's Soccer League on Saturday, Orlando had plenty to live up to if they wanted to cap a great sporting weekend for the city.
And they did just that, with the backing of a vociferous crowd that helped them get over the line. Those fans will be called on again next week when the Red Bulls roll into town, but Orlando need not fear. They have lost only one of their last 14 home matches in all competitions (W9 D4 including two penalty shootout wins and one penalty shootout loss).
And while Atlanta huffed and puffed, they never really threatened to blow the door down, as Orlando limited them to just eight shots, with none of those hitting the target.
Indeed, Orlando had openings on the counter and could have put the match to bed with a bit more composure, as they finished with 1.3 expected goals to Atlanta's 0.4 xG.
Conte: Napoli need to focus on improvement, not Serie A lead
Napoli should pay little attention to their place at the top of Serie A, so says Antonio Conte, who has demanded improvement from his team.
Romelu Lukaku's second-half goal handed Napoli a 1-0 win over Roma on Sunday.
That victory sent Napoli back to the summit of Serie A, with Conte's side one point ahead of Atalanta, Inter, Fiorentina and Lazio, while Juventus are only four points back in a six-team title race.
Napoli needed to get back to winning ways after a draw against Inter and a 3-0 loss to Atalanta before the international break, and Conte insists his team must sharpen up.
"Before the match, I told the lads not to look at the table, but to focus on ourselves and improving what we are working on," Conte told Sky Sport Italia.
"I maintain that now too because we need to take a series of steps to raise the level.
"I was satisfied with the performance for a good 65 minutes today, we could’ve taken more of our chances and were up against a strong Roma who have great players.
"Roma were also making their debut under a new coach and therefore were very eager to prove themselves, but we still should've dealt with the final 15-20 minutes better, as we sat too deep and made it complicated for ourselves."
Roma, playing under new boss Claudio Ranieri, came close to equalising when Artem Dovbyk hit the woodwork with a header.
Ranieri came out of retirement to take charge of Roma following Ivan Juric's dismissal earlier in November, though the visitors had just six shots and accumulated only 0.6 expected goals (xG) at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
"If we look back, we have some problems and that is why I was called. We were up against a team that is fighting to win the Scudetto," Ranieri told Sky Sport Italia.
"Having said all of that, I am happy with the performance from my players. We made some mistakes that we will talk about during the week, but the hunger, the determination to get back on track was there.
"We have a lot of work to do, but I feel positive.
"We know there is work to be done, we have to focus on reacting rather than sitting there feeling sorry for ourselves.
"The [players] need the right character to help themselves and then others. Naturally, when I arrived, the team was a little closed up, but I think we started to open up a bit by the second half."
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