Trent Alexander-Arnold

[Harv]

Said it earlier in the week that im starting to think Trent in midfield might be a good option for us to test for the rest of the season.

he was sitting in midfield a lot today when we head the ball, so maybe thats something they're working on?

Maybe I did learn something during all those years playing Champ Manager

[frank the tank]

Class last night.

I'd like to see him moved to midfield for a trial run with a different right back in place too.

Still needs to sort out his ****in haircut for me

[Irishnev]

Class last night.

I'd like to see him moved to midfield for a trial run with a different right back in place too.

Still needs to sort out his ****in haircut for me

I came to post the same about his hair

[SB]

He looks happy for the first time in quite a while. He defo prefers the midfield role he’s got at present & his performances show that it’s possible he’ll adapt to the new role.

[The_weatherman]

He was great last night, but I still think we were obviously right to keep him at right back all that time, he was utterly fantastic there.

[SB]

He was great last night, but I still think we were obviously right to keep him at right back all that time, he was utterly fantastic there.

He was but he no longer is great at the back. He loves the progressive attacking aspect but not the defensive game. Teams have attacked his side & he’s been found out way too often imo. Whether we move to three at the back or we play the young Scott at RB I don’t know but TAA in midfield is here to stay hopefully.

[Doc_Piptorious]

He was but he no longer is great at the back. He loves the progressive attacking aspect but not the defensive game. Teams have attacked his side & he’s been found out way too often imo. Whether we move to three at the back or we play the young Scott at RB I don’t know but TAA in midfield is here to stay hopefully.

He needs more than a good performance against one of the worst teams in the league though.

He needs to be putting good performances between now and the end of the season to even be considered worth risking in such a role and for it to be worth changing the shape of the entire team to fit him in.

Every time he has put in a good perfoamnce this season it was followed by four or five meh performances.

He was good in the big win against Bournemouth, the big win against the red mancs and again last night.

But in pretty much every big game this season he went missing and in the games that were slogs he did likewise. He needs to prove himself as much as anyone in the team now and maybe moreso if we change formation to accomodate him.

We battered Leeds in the end last night, but we showed enough fragility in that formation at times that a team like Brentford or Brighton would have gone at us in a big way, let alone a team like City, Napoli or Real Madrid.

Think it is a good formation (given the players we currently have available) against the crap of the division as long as we match them for workrate, as it allows us to create an overload in the centre (something City have been doing for a number of seasons and especially since City switched to the same formation this season) but would not be so confident of it (again with the current squad) against the teams that have pace and mobility both in the middle and on the flanks and that have the stomach to take a fight to us.

[Rich]

I think what these last few games have shown is that TAA looks capable of playing centrally in tight situations. The prevailing wisdom has been he needed a little bit of space in front of him to come onto the ball to play. Doesn't look like that's the case. And he's shown he can play killer balls from a more central location too.

What he has been prone to do - and something he can't afford to do if he's going to move into a bit of a deep-lying Pirlo is he needs to make sure he plays the right pass all the time. His passing stats will need to be comparable to the ones that get 90% plus or whatever, otherwise he'll be turning over possession too often for a player playing in that position.

Another advantage could be his long range shooting - if this becomes permanent I'd fancy him scoring 5+ belters a season.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I think what these last few games have shown is that TAA looks capable of playing centrally in tight situations. The prevailing wisdom has been he needed a little bit of space in front of him to come onto the ball to play. Doesn't look like that's the case. And he's shown he can play killer balls from a more central location too.

What he has been prone to do - and something he can't afford to do if he's going to move into a bit of a deep-lying Pirlo is he needs to make sure he plays the right pass all the time. His passing stats will need to be comparable to the ones that get 90% plus or whatever, otherwise he'll be turning over possession too often for a player playing in that position.

Another advantage could be his long range shooting - if this becomes permanent I'd fancy him scoring 5+ belters a season.

That's exactly it. If he is put there and the team built around him, he cannot afford to have many 6/10 games in an entire season let alone stinkers like he has had this season.

He would need to be a 7/10 player at minimum for almost an entire season with a pass completion rate that rivals the likes of Thiago over the course of a season.

He would need almost unshakeable concentration and to be constantly reading the game rather than waiting for someone else to read the game and give him the ball.

I'm not so sure he is that guy in terms of unbreakable mentality and cold reading of the game. Sure for games here and there, but for an entire season, followed by another season then another?

Pirlo could do that and could so so from a young age, guys like Alonso could do it and again from a young age. But TAA has never really shown that quality or given off that sense of steel that when things go to **** that he could still maintain higher than average completion numbers etc.

Is not like we are talking about a player between 18 and 22 who is still learning and who, like say Bellingham, looks like being a generational talent in a set role. We are talking about a guy who turns 25 later this year and saying we hope he can suddenly become a world class player in a different position after a season and a half where he slumped in the position he is meant to be at his best in (and I still think he has the ability to be best from the RB position)


Time will tell I suppose and if he gets gambled on to be the guy a team gets built around, I hope that gamble pays off in spades.

[SB]

He needs more than a good performance against one of the worst teams in the league though.

He needs to be putting good performances between now and the end of the season to even be considered worth risking in such a role and for it to be worth changing the shape of the entire team to fit him in.

Every time he has put in a good perfoamnce this season it was followed by four or five meh performances.

He was good in the big win against Bournemouth, the big win against the red mancs and again last night.

But in pretty much every big game this season he went missing and in the games that were slogs he did likewise. He needs to prove himself as much as anyone in the team now and maybe moreso if we change formation to accomodate him.

We battered Leeds in the end last night, but we showed enough fragility in that formation at times that a team like Brentford or Brighton would have gone at us in a big way, let alone a team like City, Napoli or Real Madrid.

Think it is a good formation (given the players we currently have available) against the crap of the division as long as we match them for workrate, as it allows us to create an overload in the centre (something City have been doing for a number of seasons and especially since City switched to the same formation this season) but would not be so confident of it (again with the current squad) against the teams that have pace and mobility both in the middle and on the flanks and that have the stomach to take a fight to us.

As a RB yes I agree & that’s why I’d rather see a solid defender in our defence & a more attack minded player like TAA in our midfield. Look I agree it’s early days for him & it’s just Leeds United but I think he deserves a crack at his preferred position.

[Doc_Piptorious]

As a RB yes I agree & that’s why I’d rather see a solid defender in our defence & a more attack minded player like TAA in our midfield. Look I agree it’s early days for him & it’s just Leeds United but I think he deserves a crack at his preferred position.

TBH I could not give a **** what a player's preferred position is or what they think it should be.


If you are the best in your position and that is what works best for the team, then that's your spot.

I think there are very good reasons why TAA has gotten to being almost 25 and not been used in his "preferred position" on a regular basis.

One of those reasons being that on form he is a much better right back than he is a midfielder.

Maybe he will be good as a specialist midfielder, but it is very much a maybe and he will need at least one CM or DM to be doing a lot of his workload for him so means we will need to play four in the centre, either two banks of tweo or as a diamond, rather than three.

I'm, not so sure it is a long term thing tbh. My feeling based on nothing more than a hunch is that Klopp knows he is playing badly in what was his best position and that he is being targetted as a weak link game after game, and as such Klopp is tweaking the team to make it more difficulty to target TAA and at the same time hoping to gain an overload plus extra creativity in the centre against teams that had planned to go after our right flank with pace.


Would also worry that if TAA was in the long term plans for midfield that he could be then used as a reason to get one midfielder less this summer and gamble on him adapting quickly and to a world class level by the time the season begins in August.

I'm very much of the view if we want genuine quality in the middle then go and buy a player that fits that description and that has been playing in the role for a number of years already.

Then see if the improvement in midfield allows TAA the cover he obviously needs to be able to play make from RB, if after that it turns out he is still in a slump we go get a new right back.

Play players in the positions they have performed best in, and if players still want to think they have a preferred position that does not match where they work best within the team, well they can go hand in a transfer request and see if some other manager/team will acquiesce to their personal whim.

[SB]

He’s no longer a solid defender whether you want to accept that or not old boy. Having to have someone else cover him makes no sense to me. Get a solid defender who defends first & foremost & we will be harder to break down. The system we’ve used to great effect in the past has been found out & we need to evolve. This could be part of that process.

[rudedog]

Would be interesting to see both TAA and Thiago start in midfield

[SB]

Would be interesting to see both TAA Alonso and Thiago start in midfield

[Doc_Piptorious]

He’s no longer a solid defender whether you want to accept that or not old boy. Having to have someone else cover him makes no sense to me. Get a solid defender who defends first & foremost & we will be harder to break down. The system we’ve used to great effect in the past has been found out & we need to evolve. This could be part of that process.

RCMs cover RBs in every single league. It is just part of the game. Does not mean the RCM covers the RB for every minute of the game but instead covers during transitions of play.

A LCM will do the same for the LB and a DM will often drop in between the two CBs if a CB is covering a full back.

A big part of our past system being found out is simply down to the players we use within it no longer having the level of physicality required for the role.

When Real Madrid shredded us at Anfield they have their CMs covering the flanks during certain transistions of play, when Napoli beat us they did likewise.

Even in systems that play with three at thye back and that do not use wingbacks you will still have a midfielder having to go cover on the flanks at times to prevent quick breaks.


And as for saying TAA is no longer a solid defender, well maybe he is not or maybe he is one that needs a mobile midfield to allow him to do what he does best.

You say he is no longer a solid defender, well he is totally unproven as a midfielder at this level let alone proven as a top level play maker from the centre and you are happy to gamble on using him there even though a big part of that role will be to intercept and read the game, two qualities he would need in spades for the role and two qualities he would have needed at RB. So if he does not have those qualities in your eyes to be able to continue at RB, how will he thrive in midfield against good teams?