Trent Alexander-Arnold has been labelled ‘really poor’ by a former Premier League centre-back after his mistake vs Fulham. The right-back could have done better.
Liverpool did not play well against Fulham and struggled badly to get any kind of stranglehold on the game. They went behind twice, after all, and relied on Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah to save a point.
But despite the poor performance and despite their struggles to control things, Liverpool can look back and see how they’d have prevented both Fulham goals. On another day, even a lacklustre display could have brought three points.
The second goal is an obvious one – Virgil van Dijk gave away a penalty after a slight knock of knees with Aleksander Mitrovic. The first goal, though, was a mistake from Trent Alexander-Arnold, who allowed Mitrovic to head home at the far post.
Could he have done better? Former Chelsea defender, and World Cup-winner, Frank Leboeuf certainly feels so.
“Well I think we have to make a statement,” he told ESPN. “Alexander-Arnold is absolutely fantastic when he has the ball and he’s really poor when he has to defend. That’s what it is and it’s no offence to say that.
“In this matter it was very easy, he just had to make Mitrovic break a little bit, to delay his run and he would never have gotten to the ball. He knows Mitrovic is behind him and put his body downwards to allow the header.
“That’s crazy, it makes no sense to me. Maybe he’s the only one who can explain what he wanted to do in that matter.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold makes a mistake
We’ve said it before but the belief that Alexander-Arnold is a ‘really poor’ defender is absolute nonsense. You cannot simultaneously be a part of the world’s best defence and be a complete liability. That just doesn’t work.
When defending one on one, his success rate last season was ahead of Reece James and marginally behind Joao Cancelo. He’s not on the level of someone like Kyle Walker but is consistent with other defenders at top Premier League teams.
Is he perfect? Of course, not. Defensively, Alexander-Arnold is just not at the same level that he is going forward. That means he will have weaknesses and Fulham managed to exploit one on Saturday.
He could have defended the header better, of course, and his mistake was not getting up earlier. Alexander-Arnold allowed Mitrovic to get his hands on his shoulder, preventing any contest with the header. It was one of the best physical attackers in the league going up against a defender who can’t list that as a strong suit.
It was a mistake and one that, hopefully, we don’t see often this season. But ‘really poor’ continues to be a ridiculous exaggeration that just doesn’t make sense.
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