Pundit Danny Murphy has claimed Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold is actually getting worse as a player.
Speaking on TalkSPORT this morning, the former Red suggested the 24-year-old can no longer get away with his so-called âpoorâ defensive abilities.
âYep, poor defensively, couldnât cope,â said Murphy. âCould not cope, doesnât see the danger.
âI mean, the bizarre thing is watching the game live, Trent did some things last night â some of his passing and crossing â that not many right-backs in the world can do, from an attacking point of view.
âBut then, heâs doing some things defensively that you wouldnât expect players to do in the lower leagues â switching off from runners behind.
âItâs like itâs got worse for him, not better. When he was first in the team for the first two or three seasons, I think most people forgave the poor defending because heâs a young lad learning.
âBut heâs got to learn now. You know, Gomez was getting isolated â Trent too high up the pitch at times.
âThe other thing with Trent as well, to be fair to him, is Salah doesnât give him any help. Salah does not defend. I donât know if Kloppâs telling Salah not to run back and defend. I donât know the instruction, Iâm not in the dressing room. But he doesnât get back and help him. I mean, the best right backs need some help sometimes from the players in front of them. So, Hendersonâs having to run all the way out there to try and get out there too late. I mean, he was up against one of the best players in the world granted.â
Presenter Jim White thus claimed: âKloppâs obviously not telling Salah to do that because otherwise we would see him do it.â
To which Murphy responded, âWell youâd think, so thatâs tactically naĂŻve.â
Murphy says Alexander-Arnold is actually getting worse
Going off the 5-2 loss to Real Madrid last night, the criticism Alexander-Arnold is receiving is slightly unfair.
First off, the right-back certainly wasnât the weakest link in Jurgen Kloppâs defence.
Joe Gomez was more culpable for actions leading to goals, and Alisson Becker unfortunately made a big mistake which led to the score being levelled.
With Los Blancosâ opening goal of the game, pundits suggested the Scouser should have been closer to Vinicius when he took the shot. Whilst this might be true, the finish was placed to perfection, so there was little that Alexander-Arnold or Gomez could have done to stop the shot curling in.
Furthermore, the 24-year-old was definitely left exposed by Salah. With the full-back obviously told to get forward when he could, this was always going to leave a gap for Madrid to exploit.
Therefore, criticism around his positioning should be more specific, as it shouldnât really count in these situations.
Offensively, Alexander-Arnold was very strong once again, so it just seems like heâs being scapegoated here for the teamâs disappointing performance.