Danny Murphy felt a pang of sympathy for Trent Alexander-Arnold after the Liverpool star’s Champions League blunder against Real Madrid while questioning Naby Keita’s inclusion in the starting XI, speaking to talkSPORT (7 April, 9am).
The past four days sum up Liverpool’s entire season rather neatly.
Just 96 hours after thumping Arsenal at the Emirates, with Alexander-Arnold rediscovering the form that made him arguably the Premier League’s most influential attacker last season, the England international went from awesome to abysmal in the Spanish capital.
On a night chock-full of individual errors, it was Alexander-Arnold who gifted Real Madrid their second goal of a comfortable 3-1 win, his misplaced header setting up Marco Asensio late in the first half.
It was an ‘assist’ of sorts – but not the kind Liverpool’s home-grown hero is renowned for.
“(Alexander-Arnold) has been up and down. His performance at Arsenal was terrific and last night he struggled,” says former Liverpool player Murphy.
“I feel for him a bit. I think he’s a victim of his own success. The standards he set were phenomenal. A dip was inevitable.”
Murphy believes the ongoing absence of Jordan Henderson hasn’t helped, with the Anfield skipper so adept at covering Alexander-Arnold when he embarks on those trademark forward forays.
“Henderson covers Trent so well. Its glaringly obvious that, when Jordan isn’t there, Trent gets isolated. (Mohamed) Salah doesn’t help him. It’s inevitable he’s going to get found out at times.”
Murphy also questioned the inclusion of Keita last night, the £49 million dynamo handed his first start since the 1-0 defeat to Fulham.
“There wasn’t a Liverpool player who could be happy with the way they played. They looked a bit lethargic. It was disappointing all over. The selection of Keita was a strange one after Thiago had one of his best games at the weekend. That was baffling.”
Keita lasted just 42 minutes before being hooked at Valdebebas. Unfortunately, by then the damage was already done.
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