Trent ALEXANDER-ARNOLD: 2022/23

Trent has been poor this season. Any player can have a rough patch and for a player who has the second highest mins last season, it may very well be down to fatigue. One thing that really concerns me is that his free-kicks and corners have been poor for a while now.

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Didnā€™t he assist/score from a couple of them already this seasonā€¦

I think TAA inconsistencies when it comes to defending is not new and in the past we draw on his strengths of attacking plays and the others to cover his weakness in this area. He has always shown in instances that he can be too casual. Granted that these are weaknesses and he should never stop trying to improve but itā€™s also because right now the attacking plays are just not coming together so naturally his weaknesses are amplified. There is no easy solution because this team works on balance. We can ask TAA to defend more but we then lose some of his attacking plays. In my opinion while individual players have to buck up but overall Klopp needs to find thst balance again for the team.

Trent is perplexing this season. I thought against Everton he had one of his best defensive displays (and we suffered when Milner came on for him), stayed back a lot, covered for others, but didnā€™t get forward as much.

Against Napoli, it was the reverse. He got himself up field and mostly abandoned any pretext of defending.

Must be a tactical decision as well in these two games (in addition to Trent just having one of his worst displays). Of course, he still can dig out them crosses even when playing shit. But the whole team is not clicking.

Both of his goals came from shots from edge of the box. No assists according to Transfermarket.

Hopefully the lad Ramsay is fit soon and gets some game time,

Might be the rest/kick up the arse TAA needs.

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I could imagine the verbal volley he would get from me playing alongside him for the lack of effort in his recovery runs and his languid approach to defending against Napoli. Effort and attitude is a non negotiable for me.

I was watching the videos of LFC training, that pop up on youtube, and I was watching both him and Robbo doing the pre training warm up and they were just laughing and joking and paying lip service to the warm up and not doing the exercises effectively. Yet when you see the likes of Milly, Thiago and Hendo (top pros) they still laugh and joke but take warm ups and training seriously. Trent, his own words, hates losing, I wish he would get back that mentality and do his upmost in all facets of the game to improve his personal performance to help stop our current slump.

He has all the gifts technically and way he can pass a ball at times is mesmerising but he needs to get back to basics and shut up all the pundits and supporters, who say he canā€™t defend, because when he puts his mind to it, he can. I just wonder if he has got too complacent and too big for his boots?

We know you can be better, but you have to want it and then you will become godlike to us fans like Stevie G

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Canā€™t help thinking that Trent wants to be more than just a full-backā€¦ and who could blame him
One sure fire way of getting moved further up the park permanently to a more glamourous role shall we say, is to play crap at defendingā€¦
Although in a few weeks when the red machine is purrrrring again and TAA is sending in some worldie through balls we will probably wonder at what all the fuss has been about regarding the Napoli match

we all hope and pray we will be back to our best not in a few weeks but on Saturday :wink:

I hope so as wellā€¦ but not sure the underlying problem can be sorted so quickly.
My hope is that we hang in all competitions until the world cup is over and second half of the season beginsā€¦ wrinkles have been ironed out and shackles of poor performances are cast off

You watched all the training sessions or just a 5 second clip? Get the cat oā€™ nine tails out and flog them for laughing during training :roll_eyes:

Stop being a dick and taking a snippet, as I mentioned it in regards to the attitude to the warm-up exercises and used others as examples who laugh and joke while training but still do the excersises properly and it was a full, I think, 14-minute clip.

There was a hell of a lot of simple actions on Wednesday done poorly.

Trent wasnā€™t the only one but he had his fair share.

Needs to be shown heā€™s got real competition for his place.

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Like lots of these debates, there isnā€™t one easy to understand answer.

  1. Trent is in really poor form

  2. Trent is tired after a draining season, curtailed break and compressed pre-season

  3. Trent is being left exposed by a different midfield set up that has taken away the protection he has had in the past.

Itā€™s probably a combination of all three, and no doubt a few more that I havenā€™t thought of.

However I still donā€™t think you can judge Trent by the standards of a normal full back. This ā€˜he canā€™t defendā€™ stuff is bonkers - because a) he can, to a decent level. Itā€™s not a defensive masterclass, as that never been his game, but when he is in a position to defend he does it OK. b) Traditionally, it is not what he is being asked to do.

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I despise bring up his name but there may be parallels of how TAA can be used differently in how kyle walkerā€™s role has changed at MC. Initially he was (seemed to me to be) a constant focus of their attacks but lately he is used more reservedly, more naturally with the tempo of the game. Likewise I reckon we need to use TAAā€™s skill set with more prudence and not have it so obviously and gratuitously on display - it puts far too much pressure on him and imbalances us by taking space away from Elliot and Salah.

  1. He hasnā€™t been as bad as people make out. Every mistake is put under a microscope to a greater extent than some of our other players.
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Far be it for me to cast aspersions about someoneā€™s physical state, but has Trent put on a bit in the midriff? His pics on England duty didnā€™t look very flattering plus his face looks fuller, a telltale sign of weight gain, and not the type thatā€™s desirable of a sportsman (or anyone looking to be healthy, for that matter)

He looked a bitā€¦ummā€¦fuller since returning from summer break. Klopp isnā€™t the one who would allow any slacking, so Iā€™m assuming itā€™s normal.

Canā€™t wait until Fridayā€™s press when all the questions will no doubt be on Trentā€¦I can just picture it as Iā€™m writing;

ā€œSo Klopp, Why do you think Trent was left out the squad v Germany?ā€

ā€œKlopp, do you think Trent will go to Qatar in a few months?ā€

ā€œKlopp, how do you compare Trentā€™s defensive ability to that of James, Trippier and Walker?ā€

ā€œKlopp one other thing on Trent, if he wasnā€™t selected for the squad how do you go about keeping his mentality right where it needs to be for Liverpool?ā€

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