Gareth Southgate really knew the truth about Liverpool – but didn’t understand the players

Liverpool fans have always had a curious relationship with Gareth Southgate. And for all the debate about exactly how the city’s football fans regard the national team, it has ultimately focused on his use of players from the Anfield team.

This was never more evident than at the recent European Championships, when Southgate named four Liverpool players in the provisional squad, cut two of the final 26 players and then, of the surviving pair, gave one no minute in Germany and, intentionally or otherwise, made the other a scapegoat for the Three Lions’ struggles during the early stages of the competition.

Given that England have reached a second successive European Championship final, Southgate has every reason to believe that his decisions – including those relating to the invisible Joe Gomez and, at least when it came to the knockout stages, the rarely seen Trent Alexander-Arnold – were justified.

And Southgate’s overall record at major tournaments with England, also reaching the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and the quarter-finals four years later, puts him second only to World Cup winner Sir Alf Ramsey in the pantheon of great national team coaches.

Yet the fact that Liverpool’s players have been largely overlooked in comparison to those at other top Premier League clubs will be one of the great mysteries of the Southgate era, particularly given that it has spanned roughly the same period that Jurgen Klopp was in charge at Anfield and restored the Reds to the top of the world.

Across Southgate’s four final tournaments, only three Reds were called up, one of whom, Gomez, remained unused. Alexander-Arnold made three starts and three substitute appearances across three competitions, totalling just 246 minutes. Jordan Henderson, however, was much more regular, featuring in all three tournaments under Southgate as a Liverpool player, although he did not start a match at Euro 2020.

However, Henderson was overlooked for the captaincy by Southgate ahead of the 2018 World Cup, with Harry Kane the favourite. Henderson captained Liverpool to seven of the eight trophies won under Klopp.

To be fair, Southgate was no pushover when it came to Liverpool and England. “There’s always a bit of a dynamic between Liverpool and England and I’m aware of that,” he said in 2021. “My respect for Liverpool Football Club is huge. I know it’s a unique city with an unbelievable footballing heritage, an unbelievable passion for the game and also, because of the history, a really proud individual identity.

“But I also played at Anfield with England, I played with a lot of Liverpool players in my time with England, and it can be club and country – it doesn’t have to be separate. The Liverpool lads we had in the squad were very proud to play.”

Southgate was right. But with him now gone, it will be interesting to see who takes over and how they utilise Liverpool’s potential. Not least Alexander-Arnold, whose move into midfield at international level has still been truly convincing and who should in any case challenge Kyle Walker for a starting role on the right side of defence.

Gomez will certainly get further opportunities given his versatility in the backline, but the biggest intrigue perhaps comes from those ready to make the step up from the England U21s to the senior squad. Curtis Jones and Jarell Quansah failed to make the final cut for Germany last month but will have benefited from the exposure, while Harvey Elliott’s performances for the U21s over the past 12 months suggest he has risen above the level.

That’s why the trio will surely be interested to learn that Lee Carsley, the current Young Lions boss, is already among the favourites to succeed Southgate and follow the same path from the Under-21s to the senior national team. But whoever takes over, Liverpool’s English contingent should expect a bigger say in the next era for the Three Lions.