talkSPORT duo Adrian Durham and Darren Gough have heaped praise on Liverpool right back Trent Alexander-Arnold after his performance against Porto on Wednesday night.
The England international was superb yet again as the Reds eased to a 4-1 victory, 6-1 on aggregate, over the Portuguese giants. The highlight for the 20-year-old was playing a sublime pass through to Mohamed Salah for his goal.
Durham was very impressed: “The ground he covers, even though he is nominally a right back, the ground he covers is phenomenal,” he said on talkSPORT. [18/04; 18:14].
Gough added: “He’s a threat getting forward and defensively he’s pretty hot as well. His fitness levels are really good; he’s good on the ball; very, very skilful; and like I say, his passing is just getting better and better. So he’s a fantastic young player and what makes it even better for Liverpool is that he has come through their academy. He’s one of their own.”
OPINION
It’s hard to disagree with anything Durham and Gough say here. The former is right about the ground Alexander-Arnold gets through, he is an absolute machine on that right hand side. Both he and Andrew Robertson on the other side are like wingers when Liverpool are attacking. They both have tremendous pace and crossing ability and are given space to attack by Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane tending to come inside to do their best work. The two full backs are integral to the Reds’ success. The fact that Alexander-Arnold is as good as he is at this stage of his career is frankly unbelievable. As Gough attests, he ticks all the boxes. His technical ability is fantastic and there’s a reason why some viewers have suggested that his future may lie in a deep-lying central midfield role. There’s no doubt that he would impress in that area of the pitch, but for now let’s enjoy him excelling as a full back.
