Liverpool supporters have been dissecting our team’s issues this season and all coming up with different answers as to why we’re not at the level of the previous campaign, Jamie Carragher has now pointed to how one man could help improve the team by changing his position within it.
Writing for The Times, our former defender discussed Trent Alexander-Arnold playing as a midfielder: ‘Because he has been bred to be a creative midfielder, Alexander-Arnold has the quality but lacks the defensive intensity.
‘In a defensive team, I relished games in which we had to resist pressure. There is no way I could have excelled as a full-back playing Klopp’s way.
‘In an attacking team, Alexander-Arnold excels going forward. He is less effective when having to resist pressure. That frustrates me.
‘I could never do what he does, but I am certain he can find the extra aggression needed to take his defending up a level’.
Many will point to the fact that the 24-year-old has won every trophy in the game whilst playing as a right-back and that is certainly more than enough credentials for him to claim that he has made the position his own.
However, the point that the Bootle-born pundit is making is that our No.66 excels in a free-flowing attacking side but not in one that is constantly under pressure and lacking confidence – like we so often are this season.
There either has to be a case for moving to a back five in order to cover the Scouser in our team, asking Mo Salah to drop back in and help him or pushing the defender into midfield.
Jurgen Klopp has been a huge advocate of playing the academy product in defence but perhaps it’s time to help both the player and the team by changing his position within it, as we all know he more than has the talents to excel and we just need to find a way to get the very best out of him.