Trent Alexander-Arnold put in his worst start at Liverpool against Manchester United today, says Jamie Carragher. The Liverpool full-back struggled badly.
Liverpool were expected to roll Manchester United over on Monday evening. It’s clear the expectations got out of hand, however, as the Reds simply couldn’t handle the tempo to start this one.
United ran all over them, pressing high and consistently getting in behind right from the get-go. That resulted in Jadon Sancho scoring after 16 minutes. But there could have been more before that.
Liverpool were awful and one player, in particular, caught criticism. Trent Alexander-Arnold had the worst start to a game for some time, possibly since the last time the Reds lost to United in the Premier League. That fixture saw Marcus Rashford run him ragged for two goals.
And this was reminiscent. In fact, Alexander-Arnold struggled so badly that Jamie Carragher called it the ‘worst 17 minutes’ he’s ever seen from the full-back. Doing commentary for Sky Sports, the former Liverpool player said the 23-year-old ‘needs to wake up’.
Trent Alexander-Arnold at his worst
Can’t disagree at all. Alexander-Arnold was appalling to start this one and all of United’s early chances came at his expense. The first – Rashford getting through and drawing a free-kick from the Scouser – came after a terrible attempt at a clearance.
Anthony Elangs then had Alexander-Arnold booked, while they walked past him in the buildup for the goal. And that was just the defensive work.
Usually one of the world’s best passers, Alexander-Arnold got essentially nothing going early on. He played hopefully, inaccurate long balls and gave it away pretty consistently.
It’s worth noting that he wasn’t the only one, of course. Nearly every Liverpool player started this one terribly and couldn’t handle United’s energy – something that it inexcusable for a thousand reasons.
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