Gary Lineker has taken issue with Thomas Tuchel’s past comments about Real Madrid’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, labeling them as ‘distinctly odd.’ Tuchel, known for his candidness since stepping into the role of England’s head coach in 2024, hasn’t shied away from offering blunt assessments of various players’ futures with the national team.
In May of last year, Tuchel directed his critique towards Alexander-Arnold, who was then playing for Liverpool. He emphasized that unless the defender improved his skills in the right-back position, he might not make it into Tuchel’s favored starting lineup. Tuchel highlighted the high stakes of tournament football, noting that a single defensive lapse could be the difference between advancing and going home.
In May last year, it was the then-Liverpool defender who caught his attention, with Tuchel keen to stress that unless Alexander-Arnold burnished his defensive credentials at right back, he was unlikely to be named to his preferred starting XI.
He then added that with tournament football, ‘the 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.’
But with four months to go until England’s first match Stateside at the 2026 World Cup, Lineker was keen to stress that he believes Tuchel’s public and at times brutal feedback methods are largely unhelpful.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has previously come under fire from England boss Thomas Tuchel
Gary Lineker argued that the Three Lions boss’ approach was ‘very bizarre’ and unhelpful
Calling the remarks ‘distinctly odd and unusual’, Lineker added: ‘I don’t see why Tuchel would have said that. 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.
‘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.’
Lineker, speaking on his The Rest is Football podcast, added that he believes that Alexander-Arnold was likely wrongly profiled as a full back earlier in his career, calling it ‘a bit of a shame’ that he had stuck in that role for most of his England and Liverpool career.
But a greater issue for Lineker was Tuchel airing his criticism.
Thomas Tuchel has rarely pulled punches since starting as the England head coach in 2025
‘Also you can’t have your coaches and managers talking negatively about you in public,’ Lineker continued. ‘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 about addressing the issues. But you don’t do that publicly just to justify your own decisions, it’s just wrong.
When it was pointed out that Alexander-Arnold was not in the squad at the time Tuchel made the comments, Lineker said: ‘That’s probably why he was trying to justify why he wasn’t in the squad, maybe, I don’t know the reasons he would have said that.
‘But it was distinctly odd, unusual and a mistake. You don’t do that publicly about players.’
Lineker also argued that previously Alexander-Arnold had been ‘hung out to dry’ by Tuchel’s predecessor Gareth Southgate after he was put into the midfield despite not having had the necessary minutes under his belt.
Since joining Real Madrid, Alexander-Arnold has struggled for minutes for both club and country after being repeatedly hampered by injuries.
As such, he has played only 446 minutes all season over 10 matches, with no goals to his name.
The 27-year-old has made just one appearance under Tuchel, in a friendly against Andorra last summer, with Chelsea’s Reece James prioritised within the German manager’s set-up.
Other Premier League stars, including Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa and Djed Spence of Tottenham, have also found themselves marginally ahead of Alexander-Arnold in the race to make it into the starting XI for England’s opener against Croatia.
