Liverpool’s loss away at Napoli has brought a lot of criticism upon the team, but it just drove home that their £72M rated star Trent Alexander-Arnold is really struggling at the moment.
Napoli delivered another brutal blow to the 2018/19 Champions League winners, as they extended their winning run at home against Liverpool to three successive wins at the Diego Maradona stadium.
What is most surprising is their key players, such as Virgil Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold, have been ripped to shreds by pundits and fans on social media.
Their talisman at right-back has been called out by football super-agent Rob Segal believes he needs to be taken out of the team to re-discover his form.
▪️ Thrashed 4-1 by Napoli
▪️Two wins in seven games this season
▪️ Seventh in the leagueIt's been a nightmare start for Liverpool 👻 pic.twitter.com/HpBArkDNwA
— B/R Football (@brfootball) September 7, 2022
Segal on Alexander-Arnold’s poor form
The super-agent Segal had overseen transfers such as Robin van Persie and Marcel Desailly has claimed that Alexander-Arnold is in a place of luxury, in terms of his position, and that lack of competition has contributed to what we’re seeing at the current time.
“Liverpool have major injury problems which haven’t helped and a player like Trent Alexander-Arnold probably needs a prolonged rest,” Segal told Caught Offside.
“However, because of his standing within the club, you can feel his arrogance when he is slowly running back to goal. Alexander-Arnold knows that no matter what he does, right or wrong, he is likely to start week in, week out.
“It is no secret that Alexander-Arnold is a lot better going forward than he is defensively, so his weaknesses need to be covered and unfortunately for Klopp, at the moment, none of his side’s backline are playing particularly well. The timing of their drop-off in form has been really unfortunate.”
"If Trent Alexander-Arnold isn't producing at the other end, he's a liability."#NAPLIV | #UCL pic.twitter.com/1GnNe5GKrK
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) September 7, 2022
However, Trent has never really had a right-back to compete with during his whole time in the first team. Nathaniel Clyne’s long-term injury meant he started at right back from a young age and since then, James Milner and Joe Gomez have both taken shifts there when needed.
This is still the case at the club, despite signing young Scotsman Calvin Ramsay from Aberdeen during the summer window. Reports claim that he’s not far from returning to action, but he will only likely be a bit part player due to his lack of experience. Essentially, he’s not going to push Trent.
On the other hand, this is probably his worst run of form since he broke into the Liverpool team back in 2017 and his consistency is what has made him a top-drawer player over the years. But the lack of effort and defensive awareness is a worrying sign.
His defensive stats are really low for a full-back, with only his interceptions standing out, but his stats overall resembles a striker rather than a defender. It is a worry for Liverpool given the games come thick and fast, and there’s no direct replacement for him.
