England manager Gareth Southgate has defended his decision to leave Trent Alexander-Arnold out of the squad for Monday's 3-3 draw with Germany amid a wave of criticism.
The Liverpool right-back has consistently struggled to get a look-in under Southgate, although he was called up to the squad for September's Nations League matches.
Alexander-Arnold was an unused substitute in the 1-0 loss to Italy, with Reece James preferred on the right-hand side as England's relegation to League B was confirmed.
Despite only playing for pride against Germany, Alexander-Arnold was then left out of the squad entirely amid competition from James and Kieran Trippier for the right-wing back spot.
The 23-year-old has now failed to earn any minutes in each of England's last five matches in all tournaments, in spite of his haul of 19 assists in all competitions during the 2021-22 season.
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Alexander-Arnold has endured a challenging start to the new season with Liverpool - often being singled out for his perceived defensive shortcomings - and Southgate believes that Newcastle United's Trippier is a more well-rounded option.
"Firstly, I didn't want any player to sit in the stand for two matches so I think the way we manage a group of people has been a big strength for us in the tournaments and we need to do that," Southgate told the press.
"The other night, we didn't need the left-back cover, against Germany we did because of the way we went with the team so we needed Chilly [Ben Chilwell] on the bench and we had Kieran who, at the moment, I feel his all round game is ahead (of Trent).
"I've had long conversations with all of them, been very clear about where they stand, what they need to improve upon, what they're doing well so they're very clear on where they sit."
Prior to Luke Shaw's equaliser against Germany, England had gone five hours and 26 minutes without scoring a non-penalty goal and added further strikes through Mason Mount and Harry Kane at Wembley.
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However, an error from Nick Pope allowed Kai Havertz to rescue a 3-3 draw after the Chelsea man and Ilkay Gundogan had previously put Germany 2-0 up thanks to a pair of errors from Harry Maguire.
The Manchester United man fouled Jamal Musiala in the box for Gundogan to step up and convert the resulting penalty before being caught in possession high up the pitch, as Havertz finished off a quick counter-attack.
Southgate continues to publicly back Maguire and believes that England will have a stronger chance of winning the World Cup with the 29-year-old, adding: "I know everybody says he's important to me, he's important to us! It's us. It's not me.
"Why do we pick him? Because he's one of the players who gives us the best chance of winning. So really we should all be wanting a Harry Maguire that's playing regularly and playing with confidence."
England will begin their World Cup 2022 campaign against Iran on November 21 before meeting the United States and Wales on the 25th and 29th respectively in Group B.
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