Trent Alexander-Arnold

[Harv]

I always thought Trippier was pretty decent TBH. Solid at the back and puts in a excellent cross and set piece. Has proved to be a very astute buy from Newcastle. James blows hot and cold and also has hammys made of tissue paper.

Trent is good for 90% of a game, but when he's caught out its always a bad one and costs us goals. Plus the fact that he doesn't seem to be learning from the mistakes. Like have a quick look over your shoulder mate! How hard is it??

[Doc_Piptorious]

The one thing TAA does have, imo of course, is credit in the metaphorical footy bank.

For whatever reason or reasons he is off form this season, quite badly at times, and not at his best, however prior to that he had four seasons in a row that went between good to amazing, and before that again a half season that was pretty damn good.

At some point it will click for him again and he will go back to being the best offensive RB in the game who also happens to be decent defensively.

His "mistakes" during his good season were fine in my eyes, a lot of them were down to being caught out of position an od time whilst trying to press with the rest of the team or whilst attacking with the rest of the team.

Now and then he would come up against a really good player that was having a great game, like against Vincius Jr in one of the games against Real, and those were just cases of being on the receiving end of another player being on form and then some.

This season though he looks off his game mentally and physically. The busting a gut to get back into position seems to have left his game for now and quite often when we the other team springs a counter he walks back slowly. It is obviously a thing that his levels have dropped because game after game we see other teams target out RB slot more than they do our other flank. There is a weakness there, perceived or genuine, and other teams feel they can get joy if they pressure the position.

He is of course not helped by a midfield that has aged to the point it cannot press or cover the same ground as before (the ones that used to do that) and the sicknotes are missing more often as well so no cover there.

I do think that TAA should be reacting and adapting to how our midfield is now though. He can see that the guys that used to have the legs to cover the right flank when he went forward no longer can do so to the same level, so he needs to be adopting his game to take that into account until we can get some fresh legs in. That is the biggest failing of his this season. He is still getting forward, but his workrate to get back has dropped and between that and the other guys simply not being capable of what they were in seasons past creates a mess on that right flank.

With any luck we get some quality in during the January window and that extra energy, mobility and ability going into our midfield adds stability to our right flank and has the knock on effect of enabling TAA to get his mojo back for the second half of the season.

[Charly]

I agree... He is playing ****, but the midfield is worse, and amplifying his weakness. Form is recoverable, but 30 year old legs are not. I have no problem about his positioning, but he keeps losing his man at the critical moment.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I agree... He is playing ****, but the midfield is worse, and amplifying his weakness. Form is recoverable, but 30 year old legs are not. I have no problem about his positioning, but he keeps losing his man at the critical moment.

A lot of that is down to his positioning and reading of the game this season though.

He was a lot more proactive in seasons past when it came to getting back into position when another team was hitting us on the counter or when we were up against another strong team.

I do not think he has lost whatever made him so good though, just think he is going through a period of poor form that is being compounded (if we put the rest of the team to one side for a moment) by his seeming insistence on not adapting to the weaknesses in the team that directly impact his position.

We know there are issues in midfield, we are talking heads on a website can see that, so a pro player, a top one at that, has to be able to see that the aging/injury hit midfield is causing issues on his side of the pitch so one would think he would be maybe adapting his game to counter that in the short term rather than spending this season taking up (and remaining in) positions that are even more advanced and attacking that in those seasons gone.

Now that is all an imo of course and there could be 101 things going on behind the scene with him following tactical changes he is being told to stick with and so on, but none of that really explains or excuses not chasing/tracking back at pace when a counter attack is on against us. It causes our attack as a team, defend as a team ethos to break down when one of our best players on that side is not doing what he used to at the level he did for years.

Though as said in the earlier post, those years of excellent play buys him a lot of credit. There are times I think he needs to be rested for a game here and there (assuming we have Gomez fit to fill in and two fit CBs to play inside Gomez) to maybe rest a bit, but for me he is really a player for whom the much overused phrase of "form is temporary, class is permanent" does apply.

[baitman]

Gone to ****? Its never been good. Its been the one knock on him since early on in his career.

The excuse that he's out of position because he's so attacking doesn't fly either most of the time. You can tolerate that and our system is designed to support that, with the mids covering. But the majority of the time he is actually in position and is just totally oblivious that someone is coming in behind him. For someone so agile he's also an incredibly poor jumper. He looks like George Costanza sometimes when he's jumping

Exactly, all this

When he was attacking and we get caught on the break and he's out of position then that's excusable, that's where midfield need to cover...
But trent is often "in position" and ambling around watching the ball but unaware of opposition players around him. Even if he sees them he makes a half hearted pathetic attempt at a tackle that's just laughable.
If he wasn't such a talent then we'd just **** him off, but how can he have fallen off a cliff so dramatically...
That pre-match bong is really wiping him out

[Paul12]

...For whatever reason or reasons he is off form this season, quite badly at times, and not at his best, however prior to that he had four seasons in a row that went between good to amazing, and before that again a half season that was pretty damn good. ....

I agree with this comment. He is playing without energy or alertness this season, and that is costing him and the team a lot.

What I find less forgiveable is an apparent unwillingness to learn lessons from his mistakes and performances. He has always had a tendency to tackle players from the wrong side on the half way line but some of the things he has done this season have been very poor - yet he does them match after match. It is as if he has other things on his mind and/or he has got too big for his boots.

[rudedog]

I agree with this comment. He is playing without energy or alertness this season, and that is costing him and the team a lot.

What I find less forgiveable is an apparent unwillingness to learn lessons from his mistakes and performances. He has always had a tendency to tackle players from the wrong side on the half way line but some of the things he has done this season have been very poor - yet he does them match after match. It is as if he has other things on his mind and/or he has got too big for his boots.

Or maybe he's just going through a poor patch of form, it happens to most players at some point.

[Corndog]

Or maybe he's just going through a poor patch of form, it happens to most players at some point.

100 pct.

I agree with everything he said in that clip. The argument that he’s terrible defensively is over hyped.

He’s not had the best season but the reason klopps fullbacks get so many assists is because of the system he plays and that comes with a cost which is that it asks a lot of them physically to get up and down and a greater risk they make defensive mistakes.

He could play CM I’m sure but he wouldn’t get the time on the ball or be I. The same positions to play some of his most effective passing lines.

He already has been drifting in there anyway this season.

[Cormack74]

Whatever his general state of tiredness and form I do find it strange that he hasn't grasped the concept of following the man not the ball. It's not hugely complex.

[rudedog]

Whatever his general state of tiredness and form I do find it strange that he hasn't grasped the concept of following the man not the ball. It's not hugely complex.

Maybe you could send him an email with your footy advice, early Christmas pressie for him

[Big-Red-Ed]

I remember Gerrard went through a similar patch about the same time in his career. It's entirely normal. Trent has been sensational for us and will soon get back to those levels and beyond.

YNWA

[Kenneth]

I can’t remember that.

[Cormack74]

Maybe you could send him an email with your footy advice, early Christmas pressie for him

I sent advice to David James once. Me and a mate got drunk and each nominated an LFC player to contact, wrote our notes, then walked to the letter box and posted them before we sobered up.

A lot of good it did

[Charly]

I sent advice to David James once. Me and a mate got drunk and each nominated an LFC player to contact, wrote our notes, then walked to the letter box and posted them before we sobered up.



A lot of good it did

What was the advice?

CATCH!!!

[Cormack74]

**** knows, we'd obviously had quite a lot to drink to indulge in such nonsense but that would have been sage advice