9 months ago
198 Trent Alexander-Arnold has earned all sorts of plaudits this season, but after a poor performance at the weekend, the critics were back out.
Indeed, the right-back was poor against Arsenal on Sunday, and, sadly, the knives have been out for the 25-year-old after this performance.
Speaking on the Highbury Squad YouTube channel, Steve Nicol has had very little sympathy for Alexander-Arnold after this performance, claiming that Mikel Arteta will have told Arsenal to exploit that flank all week long due to the fact he believes Alexander-Arnold simply can’t defend.
Trent Alexander-Arnold can’t defend
Nicol spoke about the full-back’s lack of ability at the back.
“That’s when you’re at the best, with space to run into and able to get match-ups in wide areas. Martinelli particularly. I’m sure Arteta all week was saying we need to get Martinelli against Alexander-Arnold because Alexander-Arnold can’t defend,” Nicol said.
Harsh
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard this criticism levelled at Alexander-Arnold, but we still can’t help but disagree.
Could Alexander-Arnold be better defensively? Of course he could, but is he a massive problem? No.
Let’s not forget, before this weekend, Liverpool had the best defensive record in the league, and while they’re now level with Arsenal on that front, their defensive record is still brilliant.
That has been achieved with Alexander-Arnold playing right-back for the vast majority of the season, and if he couldn’t defend that wouldn’t be possible.
Alexander-Arnold isn’t the best defender in the world, but he’s capable of playing in a backline that has the best defensive record in England, and that’s what matters.
Alexander-Arnold is a special player, and while it’s always tempting to pick holes in his game, we can’t help but think that we should be focusing on the positives of this young man’s skillset rather than constantly knocking him down for a perceived lack of defensive ability.
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