Kevin Campbell has rejected criticism of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defensive capabilities, though did agree that the fullback was ‘not a great defender’.
The 23-year-old has enjoyed a remarkable campaign with Jurgen Klopp’s Reds this term, registering 17 assists across all competitions.
“It is a bit of a myth if you ask me,” the former Arsenal man told Football Insider.
“He can defend and we’ve seen that in recent weeks.
“Make no mistake about it, the best thing about Trent is his offence. When he shows his defensive qualities it is good to see.
“He is so much more gifted going forward and Liverpool dominate games so you see more of him in an attacking sense.
“Look, I understand people questioning his defensive qualities because he is not a great defender but he is a decent defender. He doesn’t need to be a great defender most of the time though.”
Though the England international’s defensive credentials have previously come under question early on his career, there can be no question over the fact that he has since significantly improved that area of his game.
It seems that a great deal of critique stems from once occasion where Marcus Rashford had made life difficult for the right-back several seasons ago.
Since that point, Trent’s game has become increasingly multi-faceted, with critique of the No.66 as being one-dimensional looking increasingly bizarre.
As Jurgen Klopp rightly noted in a recent presser, of course, the reality of the situation is that the Scouser wouldn’t be playing in the backline if there were any doubts over his defensive output.
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There have been plenty more occasions since Rashford. TAA is poor regularly in 1:1s….top class ballwatcher
Sure VVDs never done balling him out.
Every team targets him and most chances by them are created by this.
In the last few games Klopp has altered his position by having him come inside and influence the game by raking through or aerial balls from deep. His new position has him better positioned to defend when teams target his side. It seems to be working and I think his defense has been noticeably better in the last few games. He looks more mature and defensively determined.