If you;re being criticial of Trent I think it’s fairer to put it on him not using his body better to make it harder for Watkins to make the run into the space he eventually scored from. Had Trent have made a straight run back in line with the back post he could have possibly eased Watkins out of the header. That is the sort of help you want your FB to give a CB in a situation like that where they are outmatched or if they’ve turned off as Matip did there. But it still wouldnt have been a big deal had Matip not lost him.
But it is another example of Trent not “smelling danger” and reacting, which is where he tends to come unstuck when he’s being asked questions of his defensive prowess.
Too true. I’ve learned not to take too much from peoples’ ‘opinions’ in the pre and post game threads. I’ve come away from Anfield or watching on the telly thinking that Player A, B or C has had a great gam or a stinker. Only to read the threads and find that lots of posters have a polar opposite opinion of the performance.
I’ve played mostly as a defender throughout my footballing life so I tend to be more critical of defenders than midfielders or forwards. I don’t critcise them on what I’d be able to do but on what I feel that they should be able to do. Although I do feel we could have done better for the Villa goal, I’d rather give Villa the credit for it.
In the end every team gives up chances as that is what the opposition are trying to do and no defender can be perfect all the time and sometimes the opponents are a little sharper in the situations they create
It is easier to criticise defensive situations than attacking ones as it is more about moving chess pieces around into the right position. But realistically there are far more nuances, with runners of the ball, the wind, also as a defender you can take your eye off a player for a split second and they are gone, in fact I regularly watch the player marking me and then make a run as soon as I see him look away, sneaky lol
