Jurgen Klopp has claimed that Trent Alexander-Arnold put in a much-improved defensive display for Liverpool last night.
The right-back has come in for some heavy criticism recently. But speaking to beIN SPORTS after the game, Klopp said that Trent was much better against Rangers.
“It’s important. As cool as Trent is in dealing with these kinds of things it’s still nice to show up from time to time. He’s a pretty good player!” said the Liverpool boss.
“The way we defend usually suits Trent but when we are not well tuned it leaves him exposed, especially in his position because we are wanting to usually to press high. For that we found a different solution today so he could defend in a different space and you could see how good we could do that.”
Trent gives himself a platform to build on
Not just defensively, this was much better all round from Alexander-Arnold. It was important for him to answer back after recent struggles and the early goal gave him the perfect platform to do that.
From that point on, it was much more like the player Liverpool supporters have got used to seeing.
Passes were pinpoint, clever through balls were back on the menu and – most importantly of all – he looked solid at the back.
It’s fair to say that Trent was helped by a fairly toothless Rangers team. The Glaswegians didn’t pose much threat at all and played into Liverpool’s hands at times.
But still, teams haven’t had to do much to get through the Reds in recent times. The clean sheet should give the back five a confidence boost.
Maybe that’s why Klopp chose to stick with Alexander-Arnold last night despite the recent scrutiny on him. There might have been a temptation to rest him for Arsenal on Sunday, but in the end, there was more sense in playing him.
The £160k-a-week defender should now be feeling better heading to the Emirates. He’ll likely be faced up with Gabriel Martinelli, a player who has given him trouble in the past.
Get through that unscathed, and Trent would have every right to feel that his slump is over.
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