‘He’s been shackled’: Pundit says £8m Liverpool player is so much worse when Trent Alexander-Arnold plays

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson has been one of the best pairings in the Premier League in recent years, but over the past few months, the dynamic here has somewhat shifted.

Indeed, as Alexander-Arnold has struggled more and more defensively, his role has changed to be more of a hybrid midfield role, and that has meant that Robertson has had to play a lot more conservatively.

For all the praise Alexander-Arnold’s creativity gets, let’s not forget that it wasn’t too long ago that Robertson was competing with him in terms of assists, but now, that side to his game seems to have been ignored as the Scot has grabbed just three league assists in 2023.

Speaking on The Game Football Podcast, Gregor Robertson made the point that Robertson’s attacking intent has been shackled by the fact that Alexander-Arnold is playing in a new role, stating that the left-back’s incredible performance at the weekend was a by-product of Joe Gomez playing in a more traditional right-back role, giving the 29-year-old more room to roam.

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Alexander-Arnold is shackling Robertson

The pundit spoke about the full-back situation at Liverpool.

“Klopp asked Joe Gomez to play that role and step into midfield, but when they went into four-at-the-back, we saw Andy Robertson let off the leash and we saw how he’s been shackled by this desire to move Trent into the midfield which is because he’s not good enough defensively. They have so much talent and firepower, but going the other way, I’m not sure,” Robertson said.

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Difficult

This is a very difficult situation to manage.

On one hand, you don’t want to highlight Alexander-Arnold’s defensive deficiencies, but, at the same time, you want Robertson to be able to get forward at will as well.

In our view, the solution here could be to move Alexander-Arnold into midfield on a full-time basis and sign a new right-back who can do a bit more defensively – in turn unlocking Robertson as an attacking force, but, as ever, who are we to question Jurgen Klopp’s tactics.

One thing is for sure, the £8m Liverpool star looked more dangerous than he has looked for a while on Saturday.

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