Trent Alexander-Arnold put in a brilliant display for Liverpool today, as he bit back at recent criticism of his game.
Not only did the right-back score a wonder-goal in The Reds’ 9-0 win at Anfield, but his all-round game was much improved.
Alongside his screamer, he should have had a quite brilliant assist as well. It was his whipped ball from the right that was poked into his own goal by Bournemouth defender Chris Mepham.
Alas, Trent won’t get the credit that his cross deserved. But no Liverpool supporter will mind that in the long-run. It was simply great to see Alexander-Arnold back doing what he does best.
The perfect tonic to a difficult few weeks
There was rightfully quite a few nerves ahead of kick-off this afternoon. Still without a Premier League win this season, Liverpool simply had to beat Bournemouth.
No problem, as it turned out. It took just seven minutes for Liverpool to be two goals up. And Alexander-Arnold was right in the thick of it.
As he so often is, the Scouser was at the heart of every good thing that Liverpool did. The 23-year-old wasn’t directly involved in either of those two early goals, but they both came as a result of good work down his side.
Then came the third. If Trent felt the need to hit back at some of the over-the-top criticism that has come his way recently, then this was the best way to do it. Picking the ball up thirty yards out, he put all his frustration into the ball, smashing it past Mark Travers. What a hit.
From then on, Liverpool’s no.66 was impeccable. As per Fotmob, in the 83 minutes or so that he was on the pitch, Trent completed an excellent 87% of his passes. For those who say he can’t defend, how does 100% of tackles won sound?
Sure, there’ll be tougher days ahead for Alexander-Arnold and Liverpool. But after the couple of weeks they’ve had, a 9-0 win in the sun was the perfect tonic.
For anyone who had started to doubt the right-back, do so no more. Now with two goals in four games this season, he’s showing why he’s so crucial to Liverpool’s attack.
There’s a reason Matthew Upson recently described Trent as being ‘on a different planet.‘ On Saturday afternoon at Anfield, we saw it in full flow.
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