Liverpool full-backs Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold are continuously costing their team defensively.
That’s the view of former Manchester City defender Micah Richards. Speaking to CBS Sports Golazo after Liverpool were beaten 5-2 by Real Madrid last night, Richards highlighted the two players as being problematic for Jurgen Klopp.
“When I see Liverpool they go 2-0 up and it gets to 2-2 and they are still doing the same things. The full-backs, we all know how good they are going forward, and that’s why we have lauded them as some of the best in world football but they keep making mistakes,” said the pundit.
“We have Vinicius, one of the best players in the world, and he’s got so much time and space.”
Time for a change of approach
For all of Liverpool’s issues against Real last night, it’s hard to pin too much of it on either Trent or Robertson.
In fact, Robbo was one of the Reds better performers, executing a brilliant goal-saving block with the score still at 2-2.
And as much as Vinicius was one of the game’s standout performers, Trent didn’t handle him too badly.
Indeed, there was nothing the right-back could have done to stop the first goal going in. For the second, well, let’s not talk about the second.
So, it seems a little unfair to single out either player based on what we saw last night.
Where Richards does have a point is to what the full-backs do to Liverpool’s shape as a whole. With the team two goals to the good, perhaps they didn’t need to be bombing on quite as often as they do.
This is on the coaches though, not the players. If Jurgen Klopp asked Alexander-Arnold and Robertson to sit in, then they’d sit in. In a pure footballing sense, maybe it’s commendable that Klopp asks them to do the opposite. For Liverpool fans though, they’d much rather see a more pragmatic approach right now.
It’s hard to see any other top European side be dismantled so easily and yet fail to change their approach. As Richards point out, these same tactics have made superstars out of the Liverpool full-backs. With results becoming hard to bear though, perhaps it’s time for a change of style.