John Barnes explains how Conor Bradley is better than Trent Alexander-Arnold in one key area

Add as preferred source on Google

Former Liverpool player John Barnes has heaped praise on Conor Bradley and explained how he is better than Trent Alexander-Arnold.

After Alexander-Arnold left for Real Madrid, the Reds had a major hole at right-back.

Jeremie Frimpong was brought in to replace the Dutchman, but the Liverpool full-back has been injured for much of 2025/26 so far.

In his place, youngster Conor Bradley has stepped up and now come in for high praise from Barnes.

Why Trent Alexander-Arnold is better than Conor Bradley

Speaking to Liverpool.com, the ex-forward stated that the Northern Ireland international is a better defender than Trent.

Barnes went on to say that while Bradley may not be as good going forward, Liverpool’s change of style means he doesn’t need to match Alexander-Arnold on that front.

He said: “I think that he [Bradley] is a better defender [than Alexander-Arnold]. Yes, he can come forward in a different way to Trent; he’s not going to be as creative in long passes, but he doesn’t have to be.

“He has to be his own person, his own player. Liverpool play completely different now than when they had Trent. So he doesn’t have to feel he has to come in and do what Trent did.

“You saw his performances, particularly against Real Madrid, how good he is defensively. And we have enough creativity not to need our right-back to be the most creative player on the field as maybe Trent was.

“He’s young, he’s inexperienced and he’s trying to fill big shoes. But I have no fears that he has a bright future.”

Will Conor Bradley or Jeremie Frimpong start vs Nottingham Forest

Pep Guardiola praised Bradley after Manchester City beat the Reds 3-0 prior to the November international break.

Troy Deeney disagreed about the Liverpool defender, making a pretty harsh claim about his inconsistency.

However, it’s likely we will see Bradley in from the off against Nottingham Forest regardless of his recent form.

Frimpong is on his way back from injury, but Slot was unable to provide an exact timeline for his return when giving an update before the Man City match.

He said: “Alisson for sure. And I expect Jeremie back after the international break as well because we play from November until March!

“But I don’t expect Jeremie to be fully fit for [Nottingham] Forest. But with Alisson, we expect this, yes.”