Has Nathaniel Clyne actually been ‘not very good’ this season?
Liverpool fan @DahoudAreYou, has compiled a Twitter thread of all our right-back’s ‘mistakes’ from the season – including errors against Arsenal, Burnley and Southampton to name but a few…
Follow the thread by clicking on the below tweet and reading through the replies…
Just a thread of Clyne’s defending this season that I can link to anybody who tells me he’s solid, consistent or better than Walker.
— Sam (@DahoudAreYou) March 26, 2017
Not all of the ‘errors’ here are Clyne’s fault, and many are just poor defending from the team in general.
The Twitter user blames the Englishman for losing 2v1s, and even suggests it’s the right-back’s fault when Ragnar Klavan passes the ball straight to Gylfi Sigurdsson!
The point of the thread (we think), is to show that Trent Alexander-Arnold should be starting over Clyne… However, the teenager is by no means a stronger defensive option than Clyne himself, as was demonstrated during his first-team appearances this term – when he was routinely dribbled by Anthony Martial for example in the Manchester United draw.
For us, there’s no point ridiculing Clyne, who’s one of our more consistent performers. Alexander-Arnold will soon be pushing him for the starting spot, but let’s enable them to battle it out without pressure and stigmatism – based on who deserves it more rather than ‘who’s less bad’.
There’s lots of issues with the squad, but the right-back area isn’t one of them.