Jurgen Klopp has been encouraged to give Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold a ‘prolonged rest’ following his performance in the Champions League this week.
The Reds slumped to an abysmal 4-1 defeat away to Napoli to kick off their European campaign on a bum note.
Alexander-Arnold’s questionable defending came up once again, with the England international looking rather apathetic in response to the Italians regularly carving Liverpool open.
The 24-year-old is coming in for criticism almost on a weekly basis, with the player also culpable for goals Fulham and Manchester United scored against Klopp’s side already this season.
Nobody doubts Alexander-Arnold’s brilliance in an attacking sense but, in defence, he has never looked a bigger liability for the Anfield outfit than he presently does.
And so-called ‘super agent’ Rob Segal believes that his performances and body language are borne out of a sense of arrogance, with the player knowing that the German manager does not have a viable covering option at right-back that he can swap him for.
He told Caught Offside: “Liverpool have major injury problems which haven’t helped and a player like Trent Alexander-Arnold probably needs a prolonged rest. However, because of his standing within the club, you can feel his arrogance when he is slowly running back to goal. Alexander-Arnold knows that no matter what he does, right or wrong, he is likely to start week in, week out.”
It might be a stretch to label Alexander-Arnold – who earns £180,000 per week – as arrogant but there are definitely question marks over his body language.
When Jadon Sancho fired the Red Devils ahead against Liverpool in August, all of the attention was on James Milner’s slide and Virgil van Dijk’s Liam Gallagher-type defending.
But there was very little spotlight on Alexander-Arnold who was not only beaten by Anthony Elanga in the build-up, but he was spotted walking moments before Sancho opened the scoring.
Incidents like that speak volumes for the player’s motivation levels which look dwindling and perhaps a stint out of the first XI might benefit him.
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