Jurgen Klopp has been discussing the wealth of options he has at right-back.
Nathaniel Clyne returned to U23 action yesterday against Stoke, playing the full 90 minutes. We reckon the England international could return to the first-team against FC Porto, where he’ll be making his first appearance of the season.
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Joe Gomez has been injured but his form before Christmas earned him an England debut, while Trent Alexander-Arnold has been terrific in his past five outings – in which he’s played 90 minutes every time.
Interestingly, Klopp has described the older pair as predominantly defensive options, while praising Alexander-Arnold’s natural ability going forward.
It appears he rates the youngster maybe the highest of the trio, although definitely feels Trent needs to polish some of his attributes!
“It’s an unbelievably important position,” Klopp told the Echo.
“It is one of the most important in world football because they were defenders but now they are sometimes defenders and sometimes attackers.
“Clyne is the most experienced one but was injured. He has speed, technically good, he is not really an offensive player, but he protects well and helps a lot in defensive moments.
“Joe Gomez is coming from the centre more, he will in the future play there. He has to improve but is more the defensive part for a full-back.
“Then there is Trent, who is very offensive orientated, fantastic crosses, good footballer. He has this little bit of street kid. If you see the crosses, they are a little bit dirty.”
Long-term, we’d love to see Scouser Trent as our right-back for years to come.
Gomez suits centre-back, but he needs to eradicate the errors from his game.
Clyne is a solid professional, but offers little going forward. That being said, with Mo Salah doing basically no defensive work while cutting on from that flank, maybe he’s a sensible option in big games!