“Well if I’ve changed the game, then surely you can’t have one without the other?”
Trent Alexander-Arnold makes a very interesting point when asked about the criticism he receives regarding his defensive capabilities.
The Liverpool right back is only 24-years-old and has won every domestic trophy available to him in England, and the Champions League and Club World Cup.
However, despite being such a vital cog in the Reds trophy-collecting machine that was engineered by Jurgen Klopp, the young superstar is constantly under scrutiny regarding his defending.
As Liverpool have been struggling this season, the spotlight has been on the Liverpudlian even more than usual, and the narrative has always been that he lacks the defensive know-how needed to be a top full-back.
In an interview with his sponsor Red Bull, Alexander-Arnold was asked about how he deals with being analysed more than ever before.
“I think I’ve got a good mindset when it comes to it. I’ve always understood,” Alexander-Arnold said.
“I’ve got used to it from a young age, people say a lot of things, talk a lot and have their own opinions – it is what it is and people are entitled to that.
“I’ve always just seen it as ‘I know what I need to do’ and then just get on with it. You know, it’s work at the end of the day. Comes part and parcel with it.
“I think that’s something people don’t understand, if I’m honest,” Alexander-Arnold said when asked about Klopp’s public support.
“We don’t play a normal style of football. When things are going well, people praise it.
“When things aren’t going right, it’s ‘well, they don’t defend like they used to’ or ‘they don’t defend like they’re supposed to, they’re supposed to be doing this’.
“Last year when we nearly won every trophy possible, that wasn’t a problem because we were winning games.
“[It was] ‘ahh, Trent’s changed the position, he’s changed the role, changed how right-backs play or full-backs play the game’.
“And then now it’s, ‘he doesn’t defend like a full-back used to or supposed to’.
“And it’s like, well if I’ve changed the game, then surely you can’t have one without the other. As a team, all you can do is play how you’re told to play.
“If that means that people don’t understand and misconstrue it and don’t really understand the way we play down to a tee, then that happens.
“I’m sure I have opinions on players that are told to do certain things in their team that I would say is wrong, but no, the game is the game.
“As long as everyone’s playing it, how they feel is right, then who are we to judge?”
Related links:
- Jordan Henderson’s tattoo story with Trent Alexander Arnold is just brilliant
- Trent Alexander-Arnold could be the best right-back the world has ever produced says Gary Neville
- Looking back at the best Tottenham vs Liverpool clashes of the past
