Former Liverpool player says Jeremie Frimpong is nowhere near the standard required at Anfield

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Jeremie Frimpong hasn’t really lived up to expectations since joining Liverpool this summer.

The right-back was expected to be a carbon copy of Trent Alexander-Arnold and to be able to replace the Englishman with ease.

However, that has not been the case with the Dutchman often being left on the bench, as Dominik Szoboszlai or Conor Bradley have been chosen over him.

Frimpong’s pace is second-to-none, and he can often recover the ball if he does make a mistake, but at the moment, it looks like he can’t swim, and someone has thrown him in the deep end.

These are the thoughts of many Liverpool fans at the moment, with former Red Don Hutchison even suggesting that he’s nowhere near the standard required to be a regular starter.

Don Hutchison says Jeremie Frimpong has no confidence in himself

One thing that Arne Slot has made clear since the start of the season is that he doesn’t have a first-choice right-back.

Frimpong and Bradley are both expected to fight for a place in Liverpool’s starting XI during the entirety of the season, with Slot choosing his right-back on merit, rather than favouritism.

Both defenders have their flaws, but with the way things have panned out since the start of the campaign, neither of them have really staked their claim.

And with this in mind, while speaking to GOAL, Hutchison has shared why he thinks Frimpong should be nowhere near Liverpool’s first-team squad.

“I’d have Bradley starting in the team now, absolutely. I don’t think Frimpong’s current standard gets him anywhere near the first XI for Liverpool,” he said.

“I’ve watched every Liverpool match I could so far this season, and in some matches like the Southampton game, he just kept giving the ball away.

“Simple passes were going astray, and his confidence is just starting to erode.

“He played right wing against Galatasaray, and I think that was Arne Slot experimenting for who steps in for Salah when he’s off at the Africa Cup of Nations. But he struggled then, too. I just think you’re looking at a young player who is struggling for form.

“When I watch Liverpool now, I see a team that is so out of sorts that they have to go back to basics. It needs to be Bradley at right-back.

“On the left, it’s harder to say. I still rate Andy Robertson, but seeing him with his hands on his knees at Chelsea as Eestevao scored, I’d think he was a League Two player.

“I’d love to know what he was thinking when he was taking a breather then. On the left, toss a coin between Kerkez and Robertson, but Bradley has to be starting on the right.”

Conor Bradley needs to keep control of his temper if he wants to keep Jeremie Frimpong out of Liverpool’s starting XI

It’s clear that throughout the rest of the season, Frimpong and Bradley will be fighting for their place in the team.

Both players are easily good enough to be Premier League stars, but, as is the case with most Liverpool players at the moment, they’re failing to reach the levels they showed last season.

However, if Bradley wants to keep Frimpong out of the team, controlling his temper would be a massive step forward.

A lot of the time, the defender is earning himself silly yellow cards, which is causing Slot to worry about him getting sent off.

Sometimes, taking a yellow card for the team is encouraged, but most of Bradley’s this season have come due to rash challenges.

Frimpong is undoubtedly the better attacker of the two, but with the lack of defensive work their back line has done this term, players who are more defensively solid could be key to Liverpool retaining the title.