Lee Carsley branded 'a clown' over latest Trent Alexander-Arnold and England experiment

England interim manager Lee Carsley was branded 'a clown' following his decision to on Sunday.

The star completed the full 90 minutes of Thursday's shock 2-1 defeat to Greece at Wembley Stadium in his natural right-back position but ahead of kick-off in Helsinki, an eyebrow-raising positional switch for the 26-year-old emerged.

, a natural right-back and arguably the world's best in his position, has previously been tried and tested in midfield at club and international level in the past, with the likes of and Gareth Southgate keen to take advantage of his impressive range of passing and attacking skills.

However, the Liverpool academy graduate appears to be at his best on the right side of defense. But looking to try out another experiment for the Anfield star is Carsley, .

Having never played there in his professional career thus far, the England interim manager has come under fire for the reported change of position, opting not to use one of the world's best right-backs at, well, right-back.

“How has this clown been given the England job? Best right back in the world but yeah let’s play him at left back," said one disgruntled Three Lions fan on X (formerly Twitter).

A second supporter chimed: “Carsley shouldn’t be anywhere near the senior England team, the game the other night proved that. And now going to play Trent at left back? Unbelievable.”

A third social media user added: "Another silly experiment that really isn’t going to work.” A fourth then suggested that Carsley “really doesn't want the job then”, having already claimed he's not gunning for the permanent role of England manager.

Kyle Walker will instead take up the right-back role, with teammate Rico Lewis dropping to the bench at the expense of Alexander-Arnold taking up his position on the left of the back four.

This isn't the first time the Liverpool star has been played out of position for , having taken up a central midfield role for the first two games against Serbia and Denmark at Euro 2024 during the summer.

As it happened, it was a complete failure, with Alexander-Arnold looking a shadow of his usual self and failing to offer the required impact needed in that position, although many agreed that this was through no fault of his own.

For England's defeat to Greece on Thursday Carsley opted to use a 4-2-2-2 formation, using Phil Foden and Cole Palmer in attack rather than a natural striker. Despite the abundance of talent on the pitch, the experiment failed miserably.