The Crystal Palace captain was impressive on the night as England defeated Serbia 1-0.
“It was important for him individually and for the manager to feel a bit more assured. So, from that from that angle, it was a bit of a triumph, really. In the first half we were very fluid at times and looked like we had some super moves and individual pieces of play and moments of real quality. Then in the second-half, we just ran out of steam a little bit.
“Playing out of possession is probably the key for us in terms of improving and being able to press and and make life difficult for teams as opposed to it being the other way around. I felt we were just hanging on a little bit in moments in that second-half,” Upson continued before questioning why anyone would question having Trent Alexander-Arnold in the line-up.
“As a player, why wouldn't you want to put Trent Alexander-Arnold in your team? He's got real quality; he's got an amazing right foot. He doesn't appear to be a player that's going to be considered in the right-back position in this tournament, which is obviously where he's played 99% of his playing career in terms of minutes.
“So, to then move him into the middle of the park at this level is a bold move. You can have as many meetings and chats and go through things on the training pitch and what have you, but there's nothing like doing the minutes and doing the yards in that position. Knowing instinctively what to do and when, and what's going to happen if I do this, and what about my angles? All the little, tiny moments and bits that you learn from actually playing in a position.
“That's the difficult conundrum that Gareth Southgate has. You want Alexander-Arnold in your team. I think a lot of people want him in the team because of his quality. But you're now going to get into the real detailed level once you get into knockout stages of those tiny little moments that tip the balance of games. Whether or not you can afford to have a player that hasn't had that experience in that position, I think that'll be a really interesting decision Southgate will have to make.”
Former West Ham and Arsenal defender Upson, who played at the World Cup 2010 in South Africa for England, also suggested how to perhaps get a little more out of the talent that is Phil Foden. The Manchester City player never left his mark on the game Sunday night.
“The only thing you can do differently with Phil Foden is possibly drop Jude Bellingham a little bit deeper in that kind of Trent Alexander-Arnold role and play Foden as a central No. 10. That would obviously free up another slot for an Eze, a Bowen or a Gordon.
“That would be the only other possibility other than keeping him out on that left-hand side. You don't quite see the full Foden that we see in the Premier League for Manchester City. He’s just blown me away this season and he's not quite producing that level of performances for England."
- Matthew Upson was speaking to Tribalfootball on behalf of Luckyblock.com