Brighton & Hove Albion winger Kaoru Mitoma has said that playing against Liverpool right-back, Trent Alexander-Arnold is harder than it looks.
The Japanese international has been widely praised by the likes of Micah Richards, Jermain Defoe and Jose Enrique for his silky feet that have given plenty of defenders nightmares, including the £160,000-a-week Reds superstar.
While both fans and pundits alike felt that Trent Alexander-Arnold got torn to shreds by Kaoru Mitoma on every instance in which they came up against each other, the reported Arsenal target revealed that it was not a mismatch.
Kaoru Mitoma says playing against Trent Alexander-Arnold was a test
The England international is undoubtedly having a shambolic season, especially defensively, with a number of widemen having the time of their lives up against him.
But Kaoru Mitoma has given an insight into what it is like to face Trent Alexander-Arnold, as quoted by the Mirror, saying, “When it comes to foreign players, I got past Trent Alexander-Arnold once, but soon after that when I was blocked by him, his arms were strong. People tend to think that his defending seems weak but he is totally strong, from what I’ve felt in person.”
Mitoma is classy for defending the Englishman but it was indeed a mismatch
Fair play to the ‘stunning’ Mitoma for sticking up for the Liverpool defender in a way, who admittedly has received a lot more stick than deserved over the years for his defensive side of the game.
But in all honesty, Kaoru Mitoma has had a field day every time he has gone toe-to-toe against Trent Alexander-Arnold, with the latter being hooked off for James Milner by Jurgen Klopp in the Reds’ FA Cup exit against Roberto De Zerbi’s side.
Alan Shearer summed it up best, when saying that the former ‘terrorized Liverpool’ and one man in particular.
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