Trent Alexander-Arnold has admitted that he and his Liverpool teammates have been low on confidence this season but is hopeful that yesterday’s defeat of Newcastle is the start of a ‘consistent period’ for the team.
Goals from Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo ensured the Reds picked up a huge three points at St. James’ Park to reduce the gap between themselves and top four to six points (with a game in hand still to play).
“It’s been a season where we haven’t had much confidence,” the Scouser admitted to Liverpoolfc.com. “We’ve had good performances here and there but no consistent period so far. Hopefully this is the beginning of that.
“We’re used to going on winning streaks throughout seasons, we know how to put them together. It’s starting to feel – and look – like the Liverpool team that we’re used to. There are positive signs. There’s things we can look at and get better at… it’s a great stepping stone for us.”
We put in a solid performance against Eddie Howe’s side yesterday, however, and for large parts of the game it felt like we were watching the Liverpool of last season.
Our No. 66 knows how important our victory was against a Newcastle side that had conceded just 13 league goals prior to yesterday.
“It’s a massive one for us,” Alexander-Arnold added. “This was a big one. We got our win against Everton, that was a massive one for us as well. It would have meant nothing if we’d come here and hadn’t backed it up with another win. That’s what we came here to do, we picked them apart [with] two good goals.
“The red card settles the game down for us and makes it difficult for them. It’s a tough place to come, not many teams come here and win, so we’re delighted to take the three points home.”
You certainly get the feeling that we need a decent ‘winning streak’ to ensure we do finish the campaign in the Champions League places.
Missing out on qualification for Europe’s premier competition would be a huge blow for the club and our aspirations of attracting top players to Merseyside in the summer.
Jude Bellingham is the name constantly being linked with a move to Anfield but the talented teenager may potentially question a move to L4 if we fail to make the top four.
Next up is the visit of Real Madrid to Anfield in the Champions League on Tuesday and let’s hope the lads can build on our last two showings that have seen us manage consecutive league clean sheets for the first time since October.
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