Jamie Carragher claimed that Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold’s biggest problem is that he doesn’t panic about getting back in position.
The Reds legend blasted the 21-year-old right-back for jogging back into position and claimed that if he had sprinted back in the 2-1 win over Crystal Palace, he would have stopped Roy Hodgson’s side scoring.
Carragher added that Jurgen Klopp may have a word with Alexander-Arnold over him jogging back into position, before making clear he has seen the defender opt to jog rather than run quite a lot.
“This is my biggest problem with Trent, we’ve spoken about panic, sprint back…and he’s jogging,” said Carragher on Monday Night Football (22:33, Sky Sports Football, November 26th).
“I think if he gets back quick enough he’ll actually get goal side and stop the counter-attack.
“Cause of that initial panic we both had (Carragher and Neville) we didn’t have his quality going forward, but we had that panic to get back.
“I don’t know (if it’s instinct) but I’ve seen it a lot now, maybe it’s something Jurgen Klopp will speak to him about or mention.
“There was a goal last year at Arsenal, where he needed to sprint back and Arsenal scored and the game ended 1-1.
“I just..it’s like he jogs back like that’s nothing to do with me now…just get back into position.
“I think that goal is stopped if he sprints back.”
OPINION
Alexander-Arnold is often rightly showered in praise, so it’s nice to hear him get some constructive criticism as clearly with him only being 21-years-old, he’s not the finished article. The Reds right-back needs people like Carragher pointing out where he can improve as that’s the only way he is going to get better. Also when you consider that Carragher believes that Alexander-Arnold making this one little change, could see his side rack up more clean sheets, then it’s well worth Klopp having a word with him. The 21-year-old has improved on the defensive side of his game this season, he has averaged 1.2 tackles and 1.6 interceptions per game across his 13 league outings (Source: WhoScored), but clearly that’s still the part of his game that lets him down. After all, Alexander-Arnold has more than delivered the goods when going forward as not only has he scored one goal and registered three assists, but he has generally looked lively by averaging 3.5 key passes and 1.2 shots per match across his league outings so far.
