TRENT ALEXANDER-ARNOLD had what can only be described as a nightmare first half against Real Madrid on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old defender produced an error-prone performance in the 3-1 defeat and had a particularly bad opening 45 minutes, where he was partially at fault for the concession of the first two goals.
Even former Reds favourite Jamie Carragher, who had previously defended the under-fire full-back on Monday Night Football, suggesting he deserved a place in England’s Euros squad, was highly critical.
Analysing Alexander-Arnold’s positioning for the first Madrid goal, Carragher said: “He’s in position, he is one-v-one defending. He comes out (to close down the attacker) and there’s no bend in the leg.
“So, basically when you go out there (and you’re low with a bend in your leg), you are low and you try and go past me then I can push off.
“I can push forward. I can go this way (left) and I can go that way (right). And you defend properly. I always see him stood like that (up straight). You cannot change direction.
“So, he doesn’t have that intensity in his legs and the focus to defend. This guy is not going to go past me. It’s like he feels like defending is not his job. [That he] should be on the ball.”
Our two #UCL-winning defenders @alexscott and @carra23 give a lesson in defending, even in professional gear. 💫 pic.twitter.com/f55oWrTuQl
— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) April 6, 2021
Alexander-Arnold’s loss of form is symptomatic of Liverpool’s poor campaign in general. Last season, they dropped points in just six of their 38 league matches, and three of those were after they had been confirmed as champions.
But having won the top flight so comfortably, they have produced one of the weakest Premier League title defences ever, losing nine and drawing seven of their 30 matches, with even a Champions League spot next year appearing doubtful as it stands.
The young defender’s deteriorating form is just one of many issues that have contributed to the club’s downfall, but it is nonetheless a serious problem.
Klopp has so far backed Alexander-Arnold, continuing to pick him in big games and expressing surprise at his recent omission from the England squad.
Yet if he continues to make the type of errors he was prone to earlier in the week, even the Liverpool manager’s loyalty is bound to be seriously tested.
What has transpired in this campaign is a remarkable transformation for a player who was being talked up as a potential club legend as far back as 2019.
Prior to this campaign, there was a case to be made for Alexander-Arnold as the best full-back in the world. Consider the evidence: at 22, he has already won the Premier League and the Champions League (appearing in the final twice). Individually, he has appeared in the last two PFA Team of the Season selections. In 2018-19, he was of three players (along with Matthijs de Ligt and Virgil van Dijk) nominated for the Champions League Defender of the Season. He was the PFA Young Player of the Year last season, he made the Uefa Team of the Year for 2019 and he made the Fifa FIFPro World11 in both 2019 and 2020.
A disaster for Liverpool!
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) April 6, 2021
Big mistake from Trent Alexander-Arnold!
Asensio makes it 2-0!#RMALIV | #UCL pic.twitter.com/V8kyDFWe5A
So what has happened?
Well, even with Liverpool at their best, Alexander-Arnold made mistakes and never totally convinced in his own area. In their strongest backline, alongside Van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Andy Robertson, he was widely seen as the weakest defensive link, though he more than made up for this flaw, given what he offered in attack (last season, he made 13 assists, with only Kevin De Bruyne managing more, while he registered 12 in the 2018-19 campaign).
Liverpool were also so dominant in games that they did not have to defend very often — they conceded just 33 goals last season, the best record in the division, while this year, they have conceded 36 with eight games still to play. They also rarely come up against sides of Real Madrid’s quality, with Alexander-Arnold’s weaknesses less likely to be exposed by most English teams.
The biggest difference this season is that with Gomez and Van Dijk out with long-term injuries, the young full-back does not have top-level players alongside him at the back to guide him through games with their leadership and tendency to compensate for his shortcomings.
Perhaps more worryingly from Alexander-Arnold’s perspective, he is looking far less effective as an attacking outlet. He has registered a disappointing (by his standards) four Premier League assists, while his distribution has frequently been poor.
It is obvious Alexander-Arnold is an exceptionally talented player — he would not have achieved all he has at such a young age were it not the case.
But at the moment, perhaps more than any other player in a Liverpool team that has generally misfired in recent months, he appears to be suffering from a significant lack of confidence, an issue that will be readily exposed at the top level.
Having gone from being talked up as the world’s best full-back, he looks in serious danger of missing the Euros, admittedly due in part to England’s abundance of riches at right-back.
It’s certainly hard to argue with Southgate’s decision to omit him from the Three Lions’ squad recently, and he will need a serious upturn in form in the last few matches of the season if he is to convince the England manager to perform a U-turn ahead of this summer’s tournament.
Yet purely from a Liverpool perspective, the player may benefit from being left out for a few matches. The Madrid display was the culmination of a series of sub-par performances, rather than an anomaly, and now that he is in his fifth season of Premier League football, people forget he is still a young player with plenty of room for improvement in his game.
Injury problems earlier this season did not help matters, nor will the extremely strenuous playing schedule he has had to endure over the past 12 months.
Class is permanent though, and so it would be foolish to bet against Alexander-Arnold ultimately overcoming this rough patch and rediscovering his past heights.
Upcoming Premier League fixtures:
Friday
Fulham v Wolves (20.00)
Saturday
Man City v Leeds (12.30)
Liverpool v Aston Villa (15.00)
Crystal Palace v Chelsea (17.30)
Sunday
Burnley v Newcastle (12.00)
West Ham v Leicester City (14.05)
Tottenham v Man United (16.30)
Sheffield United v Arsenal (19.00)
Monday
West Brom v Southampton (18.00)
Brighton v Everton (20.15)
Was he not the best RB in the world last week?
@Stephen Lyons: What’s being exposed now in his poor defending, know how, appetite was always there. Ball striking, crossing, passing brilliant. First role though is defending. Carragher right about being caught out of position so often is because of how klopp asks him to press high. But one on one defending he is below the level of his peers in the league and English full backs. V difficult time for him now and no escape in the modern age but expect every manager to target him with their fast player, best dribbler rather than Robertson side for the rest of the season. He’s going to have to mentally strong to deal with the continued scrutiny from here and get help off coaches in training with know how. Feel sorry for him to be honest..
@Declan: I remember Raah ford had him in his pocket a match a few season’s ago and I’m a Liverpool FC fan. TAA’s defending hasn’t improved much since. Rashford also isn’t world class or anywhere near an argument about being brilliant. Therefore, that actually highlights how poor at defending TAA actually is.
I think he is more a winger in the David Beckham type role of shop the ball in early type player. Not saying he’s as good at it as Beckham either. Problem is LFC don’t have much height in attack so it is difficult to capitalize on that. Also Salah currently occupies the right wing so no chance of TAA dislodging him iblees sood. Liver pool either need more height and heading ability in attack or should sell TAA. Square peg in a round hole like Keita in midfield. Some players just don’t fit the system and need to find a team they actually suit.
@Daniel Kelly: predictive text isn’t very predictive? Excuse the lack of sense when typing too fast on phone…
@Daniel Kelly: he played central midfield all through his underage years in a Steven Gerrard type role. Thsts where I hope he finishes up at Liverpool, dictating play and scoring screamers ❤❤❤
Even Carra has reverted to calling him Alexander Arnold so things must be really bad
@Seamus Kelly: Carragher was embarrassing on Monday Night Football. Best young rb in the league is Reece James, the most complete by far. Its mad how a quick corner against Barca boosted Trents stock.
@#JUSTICE4NOEL: Carragher was so Liverpool biased on MNF. Felt sorry for Neville having to put up with him.
Prob with TAA is with the way Liverpool play. He’s more of a winger than a Right back. Which was grand when they had VVD in defence and Fabinho as defensive mid to cover for his runs. But this year he’s continued to bomb forward but with no cover.
Also teams are getting wise to him, they know when he’s gets the ball it’s more than likely been whipped in. Wouldn’t write him off after this year. A lot of pool players under par.
@Cormac Flanagan: Exactly it. Last season when we had Henderson VVD and Fabinho playing together they put out a lot of fires at source so he was well protected. Hopefully he’ll adapt and improve
Nothing’s wrong. A huge deal was made of him being dropped by England and yes, he had a poor game against Real but he certainly wasn’t the only one. Nothing to see here.
@Stephen Keane: he has been poor all season, not just v Madrid. Southgate had the balls to drop him and it turned out to be a great decision. The kid is over hyped. Decent going forward but disastrous at defending
Christ you’d swear hes a missing person… aren’t ye making a big deal outta nothing???
I always believed that the kid is over hyped. He looks solid with VVD but without him he has been shown up to be a very average defender. He’s decent going forward but poor at defending. Madrid targeted him and Trent got done numerous times. He’s still young with plenty of time to develop but this season has shown that Trent is a very average defender.
Reece James is the most complete English right back in the league right now. Convince me otherwise.
What’s jurgen going to do with trent could he not put gini in there or nat or switch jordan. LOL
@Colm: Henderson as most who deputized par CB is injured so lol at your comment!
Nothing has changed he was always a bad defender only now Liverpool are struggling it has been highlighted. A lot of last seasons goals were being conceded by attacks down his side but Liverpool were scoring so much it wasn’t noticed as much and also VVD covered his a$$ a lot.
Ah hear when Jamie is going on about a bend in the leg I fell off the couch at home laughing. No football expert that sounds like the Valley of excuses.
Who’s laughing now hahaha
He’s so talented but he cannot defend. He’s been brutal on the ball too this season but he’s got the most potential on the ball than any other right back. He’s the last player I’d want playing for my team now outve any of the top clubs around PL or Europe.