Former Liverpool striker Dean Saunders has been highly critical of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s performance last night against Manchester United, as the Reds fell to a 2-1 defeat against their oldest rivals.
The Merseyside club were second best in almost every facet of the game, and the loss leaves them in 16th place after only picking up two points across the first three games.
Speaking to TalkSport, Saunders had this to say about Alexander-Arnold's performances so far this season:
“It’s a bad start and some poor defending from Trent and [Joe] Gomez.
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“Trent for the first goal gets 1-2’d. Don’t get me wrong, going forward he’s world class but defensively he’s getting found out.
“Mitrovic came over the top of him at Fulham, Vinicius Junior in the Champions League final does him at the back post."
"He gave the ball away for the goal against Palace and last night he jogs out to Elanga, gets 1-2’d and then walks. If Trent keeps running he gets his foot in when Sancho chops inside."
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“The second goal he hits a diagonal into the box, loses it and doesn’t sprint back and Gomez is left in the channel stranded.”
The goals scored by Sancho and Rashford takes Liverpool’s conceded tally to 5 already this campaign, and few teams in the league boast a worse record than this, highlighting the Reds' defensive deficiencies so far this campaign.
Whilst Saunders was unimpressed with Trent’s showing yesterday evening, he was quick to defend Virgil Van Dijk, who has also been on the receiving end of some criticism.
“Van Dijk's getting a bit of a stick but he's played with Konate, Matip, Gomez and Nat Phillips last week,” The former Wales international added.
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“He’s playing with a different player every week while trying to play a high line - do you know what it’s like?
“You have got to be both on FM to play that high line - you have got to be telepathic.”
Jurgen Klopp will be hoping his side can revive their season with a clean sheet and three points when they host Bournemouth this weekend.
Topics: Liverpool, Manchester United, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Ben King