{"id":634290,"date":"2024-01-21T05:44:09","date_gmt":"2024-01-21T10:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=634290"},"modified":"2024-01-21T05:49:25","modified_gmt":"2024-01-21T10:49:25","slug":"defending-trent-alexander-arnold-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/01\/21\/defending-trent-alexander-arnold-criticism\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s Like He\u2019s Never Played There Before\u2019: Opinion on Trent Alexander-Arnold Criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Trent Alexander-Arnold came under fire again this week for his defensive capabilities, this time from former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Speaking on the\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLfikCHtGjo4l2AJbpkgkmFOxgIQBc9Pn2\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Stick to Football<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0podcast, Keane criticised the Liverpool full-back stating: &#8220;I can\u2019t believe how bad he is at defending. For a guy that\u2019s played a lot of games in defence, it\u2019s like he\u2019s never played there before.&#8221; His comments were in response to a suggestion from former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher that Alexander-Arnold could be a contender for Premier League player of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Trent Alexander-Arnold Defending Questioned Again<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Watch<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">: Last Word on Football looks at how football fans are being lied to<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Football Fans Are Being Lied To\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hEQkQsNQGzo?start=15&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Criticism Is Nothing New<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The criticism of the Liverpool number 66 is nothing new. Since his breakthrough into the first team in 2016, Alexander-Arnold has been subjected to comments on his defensive capabilities and subsequently receives criticism like no other full-back in the Premier League.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">There was no better example than the 2-0 win over Arsenal in the FA Cup at the start of the month where, despite waxing lyrical about his performance, Gary Lineker and the Match of the Day pundits could not resist bringing up the two-times the right-back was passed by Gabriel Martinelli, of which nothing came about for the Gunners attack. The argument will be that it is about providing balance to the analysis, but it seems that praise cannot come without zooming in on his weaknesses.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Read More<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">:\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/01\/18\/liverpool-henderson-ajax-transfer\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Liverpool Ex-captain on the Verge of Joining European Side<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">There are undoubtedly many aspects of his defending that can be improved. He can struggle in one-on-one situations, but it only takes one moment in a game for this to be magnified and turned into a much bigger problem than it actually is.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Defending Trent Alexander Arnold<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The problem with the analysis from the pundits in the public eye is that it is often lazy and sensational. Keane\u2019s comments were blunt and stated that the Liverpool full-back could not defend. By that token, neither could Paul Scholes because he could not tackle effectively for those who remember.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Defending one-on-one situations is just one facet of individual defending. A midfielder &#8211; is not criticised for being unable to attack when playing only one in every three forward passes, so why are pundits so dramatic at the other end?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The thing here is that Alexander-Arnold\u00a0<\/span>can<span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0defend if you are looking at it holistically. His positional game has improved massively, and considering his change of role in this Liverpool side, it is even more impressive that he is able to understand when to revert to the role of full-back and when to cover if retreating from a more narrow position.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Read More<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">:<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/01\/19\/tottenham-hotspur-antonio-nusa\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Spurs Set to Beat Multiple Premier League Giants for the Signature of \u2018Next Neymar\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Statistically, there are a number of areas that Alexander-Arnold is thriving in as well. According to\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"http:\/\/fotmob.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">FotMob.com<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, this season, he is in the 97th percentile per 90 minutes for recoveries (defined as recovering a loose ball), further highlighting his positional awareness, as well as being in the 93rd percentile for blocks per 90, suggesting a tendency to be in the right place at the right time in and around his own goal. He also finds himself in the 81st percentile for aerial duels compared to other full-backs, the 74th percentile for interceptions and the 71st percentile for possession won in the final third.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Trent Alexander-Arnold Outperforms Rivals<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">For context, all of those stats put Alexander-Arnold ahead of Kyle Walker and, with the exception of aerial duels and possession won in the final third, Kieran Trippier. In fact, despite being dribbled past more than Walker and Trippier, the Liverpool star still possesses a higher tackles-won % than either of his England counterparts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Read More<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">:\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/01\/05\/kylian-mbappe-liverpool-paris-saint-germain\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a3155 Million Star Reveals He \u2018Really, Really Likes\u2019 Liverpool<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When adding all the qualities that the Liverpool academy graduate brings to his side&#8217;s attacking game, which most football fans don\u2019t dispute are to an elite level, it seems crazy that there is this consistent focus on his defending. The Liverpool system has also been designed and re-worked to mitigate any weaknesses and to fully maximise his strengths, reflected in the Reds only losing once in the league since he was moved into the inverted role, not to mention the fact that Liverpool have conceded the fewest goals in the Premier League this season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Liverpool star is not a perfect defender, but the rhetoric he cannot defend is lazy.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trent Alexander-Arnold came under fire again this week for his defensive capabilities, this time from former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane. Speaking on the\u00a0Stick to Football\u00a0podcast, Keane criticised the Liverpool full-back stating: &#8220;I can\u2019t believe how bad he is at defending. For a guy that\u2019s played a lot of games in defence, it\u2019s like he\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5027,"featured_media":629332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[1842,1123,1328],"class_list":["post-634290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-premier-league","tag-opinion","tag-roy-keane","tag-trent-alexander-arnold"],"modified_by":"Ricky Carroll, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5027"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}