Jamie Carragher has fired a warning in the direction of defender Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Speaking on Monday Night Football, as reported by the Liverpool Echo, Carraher explained why the 20-year-old has to improve defensively if he wants to reach the very top of his game.
It was a tough afternoon for Alexander-Arnold, coming up against a difficult winger in the form of Wilfried Zaha. Despite a few shaky moments, the former did manage to control the Ivorian international relatively well.
But this is my biggest problem right now with Trent, you have to sprint back but he’s jogging. I think if he gets back quick enough, he actually gets goalside and maybe forces the Palace attacker to make a different pass. But because of that initial lack of panic, you’d usually have that panic to get back.
Carragher went on to say:
Yes it’s the trade-off, you’d never take Trent out of Liverpool’s team, but what I’m saying is it’s not a trade-off where you say it’s ok to not be sprinting back and be better defensively, you want to keep what he’s got in terms of going forward because he’s the most creative player in Liverpool’s team, but he’s still got to improve on the other side of things and I hope that message is still getting given to him on a daily basis by the staff. Just sprint back, it’s very basic.
Read Liverpool verdict
Carragher is bang on the money with his criticism of Trent and it’s a problem that has become more and more noticeable in recent weeks, with Liverpool grinding through results while not necessarily being at their best.
Such is the quality he has going forward, he can be caught out when he’s being asked to defend.
The worry for Liverpool – and it’s something Palace seemed to try and do – is that teams will start to target the youngster.
If an attacking winger and full-back were to double up on Trent, it could cause Liverpool some problems in the final third.
The caveat to that is the defender’s tender age. Jurgen Klopp will be hoping that with time and experience, Alexander-Arnold can continue to grow defensively and become a more well-rounded defender.
