TOTTENHAM RIGHT-BACK Kieran Trippier has admitted he has not been at his best in 2018-19.
Trippier was one of the stars of England’s run to a fourth-place finish at the World Cup last summer, with his stunning free-kick against Croatia in the semi-final a particular highlight.
The 28-year-old was expected to kick on with Spurs in the new season, but instead, 2018-19 has been a disappointing campaign for the defender.
He has struggled with injuries and has been caught out defensively at times, failing to display the form he showed with the Three Lions in Russia.
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And the player himself admits that he hasn’t been at the top of his game in the current campaign.
I could have done a lot better this season,” Trippier told The Telegraph. “I’ve picked up a lot of injuries and there’s been games when I’ve looked back and watched, and thought ‘I could have done this better’, ‘I could have done that better’.
“It’s all about learning, but I admit I could have done a lot better. I am here now and I need to try to impress to try and start for England and try and do the best I can with every opportunity I get between now and the end of the season.
“It’s just one of those things, it just happens. You know when you’ve had a bad game. You can always improve, and we’ve got a good manager back at the club.
“He sits us down individually and as a group, shows where you could have done better, and with a good manager like that you can always only learn.”
England boss Gareth Southgate has kept faith with Trippier by calling him in for Euro 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic and Montenegro this month.
Though his exploits last summer led to a short amount of rest heading into the club season, Trippier refused to blame his loss of form on a World Cup hangover.
“Obviously, it’s a long World Cup getting to the semis and stuff,” Trippier said. “The Premier League come around straight away, but it’s what we do it. It’s our job.
If we get picked, we all want to play. People can say the World Cup is the reason why, but, for me personally, I don’t think it was. I think it’s just one of those things, you pick up injuries.
“Obviously rest is the most important thing and it would have been nice to get an extra week or something, but the season came around early, so you’ve just got to get on with it.”
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'I could have done a lot better this season'
TOTTENHAM RIGHT-BACK Kieran Trippier has admitted he has not been at his best in 2018-19.
Trippier was one of the stars of England’s run to a fourth-place finish at the World Cup last summer, with his stunning free-kick against Croatia in the semi-final a particular highlight.
The 28-year-old was expected to kick on with Spurs in the new season, but instead, 2018-19 has been a disappointing campaign for the defender.
He has struggled with injuries and has been caught out defensively at times, failing to display the form he showed with the Three Lions in Russia.
And the player himself admits that he hasn’t been at the top of his game in the current campaign.
“It’s all about learning, but I admit I could have done a lot better. I am here now and I need to try to impress to try and start for England and try and do the best I can with every opportunity I get between now and the end of the season.
“It’s just one of those things, it just happens. You know when you’ve had a bad game. You can always improve, and we’ve got a good manager back at the club.
“He sits us down individually and as a group, shows where you could have done better, and with a good manager like that you can always only learn.”
England boss Gareth Southgate has kept faith with Trippier by calling him in for Euro 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic and Montenegro this month.
Though his exploits last summer led to a short amount of rest heading into the club season, Trippier refused to blame his loss of form on a World Cup hangover.
“Obviously, it’s a long World Cup getting to the semis and stuff,” Trippier said. “The Premier League come around straight away, but it’s what we do it. It’s our job.
“Obviously rest is the most important thing and it would have been nice to get an extra week or something, but the season came around early, so you’ve just got to get on with it.”
Subscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here:
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