Liverpool legend John Barnes has leapt to the defence of under-fire Reds defender Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Alexander-Arnold has come under intense scrutiny of late for a series of poor performances during Liverpool's lacklustre campaign.
He was left out of Gareth Southgate's most recent England squad and then made a costly mistake in Liverpool's 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League.
But Barnes insists the right-back hasn't been as bad as pundits are making out.
Advert
"I don't think there are any issues with Trent's performance," the former Three Lions winger told BonusCodeBets.
"His strength is going forward, and when we have a midfield three like we normally do, in terms of [Gini] Wijnaldum, [Jordan] Henderson and [James] Milner, he can go forward and not necessarily worry about defending that much, because they'll cover for him.
"But once you have different midfields, whereby if he goes forward, that space can be exposed then, when Trent gets caught out of position, then there's a problem.
"Overall, Trent has been playing well and consistently.
Advert
"Yes, he would have made the odd mistake that gave a goal away, but when Liverpool were winning, and he was creating chances, those mistakes were forgotten about.
"It's important to say that he's still creating chances. He put a great ball in against Arsenal, and he put a couple of great balls in against Real Madrid.
"But the fact is that we lost he gets a lot of the blame, but we didn't lose because of Trent."
Advert
Alexander-Arnold now faces an uphill battle to force his way back into contention for this summer's Euros, but Barnes said: "I'd be very surprised if he doesn't go.
"Obviously it depends on who we play. Gareth may look at that situation and say we want a stronger defensive player if we're playing against maybe a France, Spain or a Belgium.
"But if you're talking about us being able to attack and create, there's not another right-back who can create more than Trent.
"And if you're going to play three centre-backs, as Gareth has done at times, and he likes to do that, then the right wing-back role is tailor-made for Trent. I have no worries about him being in the squad this summer - he's a great player."
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Liverpool, John Barnes, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Gareth Southgate
