Trent Alexander-Arnold

[Venton]

Engineering a free to go play with Jude?

Where would he play in that team? He's not a great right back and he's not a good enough midfielder for them.

[Kenneth]

I don’t know. I’d say the same about Camavinga but they find him a role.

[Mark79]

Where would he play in that team? He's not a great right back and he's not a good enough midfielder for them.

Not a great right back?

He certainly was. Still can be, if he wants to.

[Charly]

Yeah, I dont blame the player. Its the system Im unsure about.

[Le Chef]

Based on the first half for England against Malta, needs to rope it in a bit, was ****e

[Fierce]

I think he probably could be a good midfield option in the right team, but I don't think that's us and this inverted stuff is cool when it works, but it hasn't really worked consistently

I'd absolutely love to see the Trent of a few years ago, best RB in the world for a time. Bizarre that we're not playing him as such when you think about it

Didn't Klopp say something similar ?

[Norbs]

His legs have gone already, RB in a Klopp set up in the most demanding position

[Venton]

Not a great right back?

He certainly was. Still can be, if he wants to.

Was he though? He was an amazing wing back but could he ever defend particularly well?

[RedReet]

Was he though? He was an amazing wing back but could he ever defend particularly well?

Whether or not you believed he was actually the best RB, surely he was the best performing player in that position? We had the best defence in Europe over periods, we were scoring 90+ points in the league regulary and we were winning trophies. Personally I don't think you can achieve those results with even 1 bad player, particularly the cleansheets.

Saying that Trent wasn't one of the best RB's in the league because he can't defend is a bit like saying Firmino couldn't be considered one of the best forwards at the time because he wasn't a natural goalscorer.

Think it's crazy so many people writing Trent off at this stage and talking of binning him. Walker was almost 3 years older than Trent is now when he signed for City and even then he often played 2nd fiddle to Cancelo and only really started looking the part in recent years.

[RedReet]

Based on the first half for England against Malta, needs to rope it in a bit, was ****e

Didn't watch the match, but catching up on Twitter, seems like he the was the best of a bad bunch.

Ignore the comments on this Tweet, but most match reports has him MOTM or up there.

[ame]https://twitter.com/LFCTransferRoom/status/1725655666034082251[/ame]

[Mark79]

Was he though? He was an amazing wing back but could he ever defend particularly well?

Yes. He's played as a fullback, not a wingback. He's been the rightback in a team that has avereaged a goal or fewer conceded per game in 4 different seasons now.

He's a better defender than all the scrutiny makes him out to be.

[Venton]

Whether or not you believed he was actually the best RB, surely he was the best performing player in that position? We had the best defence in Europe over periods, we were scoring 90+ points in the league regulary and we were winning trophies. Personally I don't think you can achieve those results with even 1 bad player, particularly the cleansheets.

Saying that Trent wasn't one of the best RB's in the league because he can't defend is a bit like saying Firmino couldn't be considered one of the best forwards at the time because he wasn't a natural goalscorer.

Think it's crazy so many people writing Trent off at this stage and talking of binning him. Walker was almost 3 years older than Trent is now when he signed for City and even then he often played 2nd fiddle to Cancelo and only really started looking the part in recent years.

He was fantastic when we were playing most of our games in the opponents half, pegging them back and destroying them with fast moving overlaps. Now we are under pressure for larger parts of the game his defensive frailties are being spotlighted. There is a reason teams target the right full-back position. And I'm not blaming Trent for being caught up the pitch now and again because that's going to happen from time to time. It's the ball-watching, losing the people he's meant to mark, turning his back constantly on crosses and shots that I have a problem with.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Where would he play in that team? He's not a great right back and he's not a good enough midfielder for them.

I know Tuesday79 and others have already replied, but he was a smashing RB. Lsat season was his only season being poor from RB on a regular basis before moving to that central position in the final third of last season.

His defending was always pretty good but was overshadowed by his frankly brilliant attacking play from that position.

Think in the hypothetical scenario of him going to Real it would be very much as a RB and could see him being a massive upgrade on Carvajal. Not a hope he would be going central there when they have a number of players that would be superior central/deep playmakers.


As said already by others, he did not play a big part in one of the best back lines in the country without being a very good defender.

When at his best at RB I think there was only one player that regulary had his number and that was Vinicius jr, and to be fair the same to be said for almost every RB that he ran at.


I might not rate TAA in the centre, but a motivated TAA at RB is a top tier RB.


Whilst a different style of RB, I would rate peak TAA as being as effective from the position as Philipp Lahm was back in the day, and in the here and now the only guy that I think is or maybe is as effective from RB as TAA is Hakimi (again in a different manner to TAA and with the caveat that Hakimi plays at RWB as often as he does at RB)

[Doc_Piptorious]

He was fantastic when we were playing most of our games in the opponents half, pegging them back and destroying them with fast moving overlaps. Now we are under pressure for larger parts of the game his defensive frailties are being spotlighted. There is a reason teams target the right full-back position. And I'm not blaming Trent for being caught up the pitch now and again because that's going to happen from time to time. It's the ball-watching, losing the people he's meant to mark, turning his back constantly on crosses and shots that I have a problem with.

That is a massive issue and one that pretty much became the norm for him from last season and is why I think he should not be in the central role as he doing the things you mentioned means he, imo, loses runners from a number of channels rather than just on the flank when he was a RB.

[RedReet]

He was fantastic when we were playing most of our games in the opponents half, pegging them back and destroying them with fast moving overlaps. Now we are under pressure for larger parts of the game his defensive frailties are being spotlighted. There is a reason teams target the right full-back position. And I'm not blaming Trent for being caught up the pitch now and again because that's going to happen from time to time. It's the ball-watching, losing the people he's meant to mark, turning his back constantly on crosses and shots that I have a problem with.

There's no denying the fact that some of Trent's defending last year was inexplicable/inexcusable (depending on your view) and like all players, has certain weaknesses to his game. But his numbers both offensively and defensively over that 3-4 period was up there with the best, confirmed by his FIFPRO selection in 2020 and Balon d'Or nominations.

As much as I don't agree that Trent is a bad defender, I'd argue it's more a case of he defends poorly at times, but it's an argument that's been done to death and will continue for the rest of his career. What I wholeheartedly disagree with is the notion that he hasn't been a great RB for us since he broke though or that he can't be considered one of the best.