When Thomas Tuchel announced who he had selected for his England squad, there was a lot of noise surrounding the absences of Cole Palmer and Phil Foden.
Perhaps less so for the likes of Jarrod Bowen, who’d had a reasonably impressive individual season at West Ham despite their relegation, and Harry Maguire, who has proven time and again at Man United that he can still do a job at the highest level.
Was Trent ‘out of sight, out of mind’?
One of the biggest surprises appeared to be the general acceptance that Trent Alexander-Arnold’s exclusion wasn’t in itself a surprise.
A player who just a couple of years ago was an absolute shoo-in for the national team, as much for his Beckham-like deliveries from wide areas as for his athleticism and tremendous all-round game.
Whether Tuchel didn’t see enough from the former Liverpool player to form an accurate judgement isn’t entirely clear, and one could certainly take the view of ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ given that Trent has been plying his trade at Real Madrid.
It’s true to a certain extent, too, that ‘Los Blancos’ have been pretty ordinary for most of the season, and when the right-back had been given an opportunity by Xabi Alonso, firstly, and latterly Alvaro Arbeloa, he didn’t really take them.
Improvement in crossing and defensive attributes
What is interesting is that whilst there are several areas that Trent didn’t improve upon in 2025/26, there were also a handful of key metrics in which he posted better numbers than his last season at Liverpool, and it does beg the question as to whether Tuchel was too hasty in writing the 27-year-old off.
For example, an average of 1.38 successful crosses per game for Real Madrid, was well ahead of the 1.27 per game he managed for the Reds in 2024/25.
Often criticised for his defensive attributes, too, and some would say a lack of them, his 46.67% duel success in defensive one-on-ones in 25/26, trumped his 44.44% showing in 24/25.
Just five assists in 30 games in all competitions for ‘Los Blancos’ hints at some of the potential problems Trent encountered at the Santiago Bernabeu, though a hamstring injury that kept him out for seven games, as well as a thigh problem which saw him miss 14 more matches, arguably ensured that he couldn’t regularly find the rhythm he needed to best show off his skill set.
Miserable attacking showing
Tuchel will likely point to the 5.37 defensive duels won per game compared to 8.21 in his final season at Anfield as a potential issue for him, not to mention just 5.78 recoveries during his season in Spain (7.19 at Liverpool).
Even if one tried to spin the data to look to enhance the attacking side of Trent’s game, there too he had a miserable time of it.
5.73 progressive runs per game on average was down on his 6.25 in 24/25, and 5.28 successful passes in the final third were way below his output of 7.99 at Liverpool. Key passes had seen a per-game reduction as well, with the 0.72 showing from 24/25 dipping down to 0.64 in Madrid.
Aside from all the numbers, what’s perhaps not spoken about enough is just how well the Three Lions have done in Trent’s absence.
England have been brilliant without Trent
He’s not really been a consistent selection since the European Championship in 2024, and Tuchel has left the player in no doubt as to his thoughts on what Trent does or doesn’t bring to the table, by playing him for a paltry 26 minutes in Andorra during the qualifying campaign, and that’s it.
Eight games played, eight games won, no goals conceded… however Trent supporters try to dress it up, one can understand exactly where the German coach is coming from because you simply don’t change a winning team.
Yes, it’s a controversial omission too, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for England either.
For how many years did arguments rage up and down the country because the perception was that a succession of England managers were just playing their favourites?
Tuchel has stuck his neck on the line
Now, there’s clearly a man in charge who thinks about things a little differently, and some might say a bit more logically.
This is the World Cup, don’t forget. It isn’t a tournament for passengers, and unfortunately for Trent, his recent numbers don’t back up the narrative about what a world-class full-back he is.
Of course, were England not to be successful, then the criticism that will befall Tuchel will hit home hard.
Until then, he deserves the benefit of the doubt and the freedom to make those cut-throat decisions.
