This is only a topic because Gareth's System does not pass the eye test. England is not exactly a well oiled machine at the moment. With all the question marks around England's offensive game plan Trent is an obvious player to be throne into the conversation.
Trent can’t defend
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He is not talking about one specific incident, he is talking about whole package, why Trent is not in defending position during the transition. This is very commonly used against FBs, like why FB is not in position to cover his space when the said player is already in attacking position.
Ofcourse he is defensively weaker or lets say that's the weakest part of his game and this is something Klopp also mentioned. He didn't say Trent is awesome defensively, he said that part of the game is less world class than other attributes he has or compared to others (something like that). His main point was about why Trent is so higher up the pitch and why there is a gap in that RB position.
Yeah I agree, he has few more than other defensively strong FBs.
Why isn’t Trent solving Liverpools offensive problems?
He's probably our most important player after Salah going forward.
Again, 2 assists in 27 odd games? Maybe depending on Trent is why Salah and Jota have completely fallen away as goal threats and why Nunez is struggling to settle in?
Trent has gotten as lazy going forward as he has defending. Just lazy cross field balls from deep, he doesn’t even try to work crossing positions anymore.
If TAA was in his best form then not having him in the squad would be stupid. But he isn't.
It's absolutely correct to dismiss any supposed faults that come about as a result of what Liverpool's system demands of him. But that still leaves all the incidents where he's been in the correct position as per the system but simply hasn't reacted to what's happening around him with sufficient speed or intensity. And that's been happening a lot more in recent times.
And it's not like his attacking form has been brilliant this season either. Last season TAA was averaging 0.35 xA per 90 in the league, literally one of the best players in Europe in that regard, in any position. But so far this season it's been less than half that, 0.14 xA. Which is still good for a fullback, but not the near-KDB level of good that demands you acommodate his weaknesses.
With the WC taking place when it does it was always going to be the case that early season form would decide a good few of the WC squad spots. And TAA has straight-up been bad.
It's absolutely correct to dismiss any supposed faults that come about as a result of what Liverpool's system demands of him. But that still leaves all the incidents where he's been in the correct position as per the system but simply hasn't reacted to what's happening around him with sufficient speed or intensity. And that's been happening a lot more in recent times.
And it's not like his attacking form has been brilliant this season either. Last season TAA was averaging 0.35 xA per 90 in the league, literally one of the best players in Europe in that regard, in any position. But so far this season it's been less than half that, 0.14 xA. Which is still good for a fullback, but not the near-KDB level of good that demands you acommodate his weaknesses.
With the WC taking place when it does it was always going to be the case that early season form would decide a good few of the WC squad spots. And TAA has straight-up been bad.
Because of the way Klopp wants him to play.
Can’t wait for the key passes Trent will play today to make up for that
Trossard is heartless. Made an absolute mockery of him there.
Trossard is toying with him.
"today i will remind them"
I love how shit he is.
Love the way he trots around like defending isn’t his job and he hasn’t just given the ball away
For a defender who is so shit at defending, it’s amazing how arrogant he seems trotting around.
He really thinks he's Beckham these days
Yeah, retired.
He looks like more like an NFL player, packed on a lot of muscle and I don’t think it’s a good thing for him
He just doesn't try to defend. That dude beginning with m just strolled past him
is it just me or are his performances getting worse ?
inshallah young Calvin is let out of the basement and can play a few games. It literally cannot be worse than trent right now
?inshallah young Calvin is let out of the basement and can play a few games. It literally cannot be worse than trent right now
Literally everything down his side. Every single chance comes from taking advantage of Trent
Again,.this time he pulls him down
I think he's just got a bit too big for his boots in my opinion, he's not always been this exploitable. Carried away with the assists, spraying balls around, he's taken his eye off the ball and thinks he's so good elsewhere that defending is optional. He's still young, it can be worked on, just depends on his attitude to it.
Surely Trent must have been involved in 6-7 of Liverpools goals against this season ?
There's a ton of things to criticise Southgate for, but not trusting Alexander-Arnold shouldn't be one of them.
He can't defend. He's been shocking this season.
He can't defend. He's been shocking this season.
He's fairly shite yeah.
The number of times this season he’s been doubled up on and had an opponent run in behind the inside of him is ridiculous.
I wouldn’t mind seeing us go to a 4-4-2 with Alexander-Arnold at RM and someone like Gomez behind him. Anything to get him away from defensive situations.
I wouldn’t mind seeing us go to a 4-4-2 with Alexander-Arnold at RM and someone like Gomez behind him. Anything to get him away from defensive situations.
I’m sure the pitch was too big again today.
Getting him away from defensive situations - that's what Southgate did
I'd feel bad for him if he wasn't such a smug prick with such a clearly high opinion of himself
It would be a good time to quote Klopp:
" Yes, there are other situations where he was not aware or there was a challenge he should have won. Every player has these challenges. But with him? Every time it is picked up and analysed, all the experts saying this is a weakness. Honestly, I just don’t get it. A world-class talent gets judged by the one thing he is not as world class at as the other things? If he was not a good defender, he would not play.”
You could argue that not being able to defend is a weakness - and that pundits should be allowed to point that out.
" Yes, there are other situations where he was not aware or there was a challenge he should have won. Every player has these challenges. But with him? Every time it is picked up and analysed, all the experts saying this is a weakness. Honestly, I just don’t get it. A world-class talent gets judged by the one thing he is not as world class at as the other things? If he was not a good defender, he would not play.”
You could argue that not being able to defend is a weakness - and that pundits should be allowed to point that out.
It isn't even the poor defending. It's the lack of interest in defending. If our fullbacks showed this kind of attitude, the caf would explode.
TAA has real talent going forward, but Martinelli is going to be a problem.
Klopp plays a right midfielder who cannot defend or doesn't want to defend at right back. This worked when the team had huge running power in midfield to cover this vacated space, Henderson, Milner, Wijnaldum etc.
Klopp hasn't replaced this running power but still insists on playing TAA at right back, so now the shortcomings are highlighted moreso as TAA isn't being bailed out four times a game.
Klopp isn't adjusting the system at all which shows a huge lack of tactical acumen tbh.
Klopp hasn't replaced this running power but still insists on playing TAA at right back, so now the shortcomings are highlighted moreso as TAA isn't being bailed out four times a game.
Klopp isn't adjusting the system at all which shows a huge lack of tactical acumen tbh.
Had 2 weeks of Liverpool fans defending him and telling everyone what a good defender he is then he puts in that performance. He's always been bad at defending and now Liverpool are struggling to control games like before teams are getting more chance to target him as the weak point
Lost the ball for the second goal and casually jogged back
This is how I’m seeing it tbh. TAA is playing terribly this season. Don’t get me wrong. But Klopp hasn’t adjusted tactically to make up for an ageing midfield and it’s exposing the flaws in Trent’s game.
Alexander-Arnold has always had a harder time with the defensive side of his game. This isn’t something new. It’s just being exposed more this season.
He needs to be moved higher up the pitch imo. A 4-4-2 allows flexibility to become a 4-3-3 if needed and puts the defensive burden on whoever we stick at RB (Gomez or Ramsey). Alexander-Arnold can then play on the right and tuck in a bit when needed. He seems to like the inside right position anyway.
He can’t keep playing RB though. Martinelli will roast him next week.
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