Look at today for example. Yes Doku completed some dribbles, but most times Trent funneled him to the byline or inside and Doku wasn’t really threatening for the most part. Yet the prevailing narrative is that he got destroyed by Doku.
He has actually been decent to good at defending this season yet people say he’s been a horrific defender. I don’t think this is quite true if you watch him play.
I won’t claim that he’s an amazing defender but he’s not a bad one either, he’s just a perfectly average to good defender but the narrative is that he’s a liability. It’s frustrating to see.
The problem with Alexander-Arnold isn’t so much in games like today’s where he can get himself fired up and he knows that if he doesn’t do his job his side will be punished, it’s in the games against mid/lower-table opposition where he shifts too much of his focus onto the attack and neglects the defensive part of his job.
I’ve said for a long time, it’s not that he can’t defend it’s that he often doesn’t fancy doing it. It’s the dawdling back over the halfway line while an attack is breaking down his flank, it’s the standing still while triangles are played around him, it’s the shirking out of tackles & headers. He knows if he does that against City he’ll be putting his team in trouble, especially with Doku playing as well as he has been.
It started from Neville’s position as best prem RB coming under threat. He pushed the focus on his defending relentlessly after they won the European cup. Before that it was all praise strangely
No. He gets cooked regularly. He spams more balls than anyone in. Throw enough crosses in box one will go in
He’s obviously not a bad defender. That narrative is just a lazy talking point peddled by sub standard pundits to give the person in the pub something to talk about.
Football punditry does nothing to grow awareness and understanding and just plays into the tired tropes. Football writing however can be exceptional and insightful. Punditry in this country should be much better.
Anyway, Trent is an elite footballer so obviously he can defend. Is it as good a part of his game as how he supports the team going forward, no. It’s not for me. For Liverpool that’s rarely an issue and he gives so much positive.
It’s a bit like Zinchenko, he’s not a bad defender but he does make mistakes or swith off more than the real elite full back would. He gives so much to the team with the rest of his game that you have to balance.
TAA is an elite striker of the ball and he gives you assists etc. He will remain a great full back but he will never be one of the best due to defensive lapses.
Doku put in a few crosses which should have been converted to goals. All after skinning Trent.
If these chances had not been wasted by other players the game narrative would have been how Trent is a liability.
So, the way Sky Sports punditry works us that Rodri missing a chance determines whether Trent is a liability.
The pundits don’t do subtlety and nuance. They just pick a lazy narrative.
Same with anyone in a big six club tbh it’s hard to even care about the league haha
You need to remember, most people commenting about the sport have never played.
I think Trent’s defending gets brought up a lot because he’s so often in conversations of being one of the best full backs in the world and it is logical to therefore bring up the fact that he is an average defender. It’s probably a bit overblown and I think in the past systems have not aided him, but there’s a lot of examples of him being a middling 1 on 1 defender, and also a number of examples of him losing his man or ball watching.
Imo his skill set is not really about being a good defender but when you’re arguing about him vs Walker or Reece James for an england team for example it’s clear he’s a less multifaceted player than them and that’s to do with him defending at a much lower level.
Yeah trent has always been a perfectly fine defender. He’s an absolutely world class player with the ball though
I mean no, he has been below average as a poor defender
Do you have any metrics whatsoever to support this?
There isn’t a single thing to back this claim up. Find all right backs in the top 50 teams in the world and show me how trenr is below average.
He’s not as good as you’d expect for a “world class” right back, but he’s not below average for a typical prem defender
This is eloquently put
he’s just average in terms of 1v1 defending but if you mean defensive awareness then yeah he’s below average
If you understood anything about football. Trent loves to move up the pitch I’m which leaves a gap behind him and that’s what gets exploited every time.
I mean I don’t think anyone has ever said TAA is better then Walker or James, just that he is so much better at attacking then either and that is an area Engalnd need help in.
Trent has shut down some of the best wingers in the world before and been apart of some of the best defenses in the world. His lack of defensive ability is definitely overblown.
Trent is 100% better than James. Walker though is a much better defender and I think an overall player. However Walker does also have the benefit of playing for a team that always has possession but still a fine defender.
At his best, he’s a very good defender. He just goes missing once in a while.
He can’t do a job but I’d say very good defender is an exaggeration
At his best. I don’t think that’s much of a stretch. We don’t get his best consistently. And he’s got other issues. But he’s very strong, Positionally quite smart. Not bad on the ball, and excellent at defensive headers. I think most teams in the league improve with him.
At his best he can be fine but to say he’s a very good defender is a stretch. He’s unlike any other fall back there’s ever been attacking wise, if you’re saying he’s also a very good defender he’d legit be the best fall back ever he’d be in world 11 every year of that were the case.
I guess agree to disagree. I think he improves most top flight teams Europa league level or below. I think that counts as very good. I’m not really sure what you’re getting at with him being in the world 11 tbh.
he did get absolutely rinsed by ake for the goal.
Yeah OP conveniently leaving out that Ake just strolled past him like he was a training cone.
I don’t think it is lazy commentary or overblown at all. Trent is amazing going forwards, but he can’t defend for shit
“can’t defend for shit”
These takes sometimes, fuck sake.
Bottom 56% of RB’s for tackles. Bottom 88% of RB’s for clearances. Bottom 88% of RB’s for blocks. Bottom 84% of RB’s for aerial duels won.
Yeah mate, he is a fucking stellar defender isn’t he. LMAO you Liverpool fans cope so hard.
The guy is pretty much 99th percentile of RB’s in all attacking aspects. People recognise that, he is one of the best in the world. But he cannot defend, stop lying to yourselves and just appreciate him for the player that he is.
Trying to feed people false narratives about him being a good, or even decent, premier league defender is simply not true. Nobody believes it either, because it is plain for all to see. Don’t know who you are trying kid, but you are only kidding yourselves.
I’m not sure these stats are right , surely it would make more sense if he was in the bottom 8% for some of these stats , like if you said “he’s bottom 10% for ground duals among fullbacks” that would make sense
Same way if you’re talking about attacking stats you want a player to be in a high percentile eg 87th percentile for crossing accuracy
Yeah I worded it differently because this is the internet and I fully expect that a lot of people don’t understand what percentile means. So, instead of saying 44, 11, 11, 16 percentile, I said bottom 88% for example. I should have said either top 88%, or bottom 11%, you are correct.
No worries
Is that tackles or tackle percentage? Because that’s a stat that depends on many things - eg possession. If you have more of the ball then you’re going to have less chances to make tackles. So players on high possession teams will have fewer tackles.
Blocks and clearances are also about play style. We don’t sit deep, so no blocks, and we play possession football, so no clearances.
Aerial duels are absolutely a weakness of Trent. It’s funny that people talk about Vinicius rinsing Trent in the CL final, when in reality Trent won every 1v1. But his poor concentration meant he got beaten by Vinicius at a back post header, so people ignore everything else and jump on the false narrative.
Is Zinchenko a LB to you? Honest question Arsenal fan to Arsenal fan.
Liverpool fan here and I totally agree. The man can’t defend. World class ball striker but is not a defender. And I hate the narrative but he’s so good going forward. That would be same thing as saying yes or striker can’t score goals or create but he’s so good at coming back to defend…. Ridiculous
Allison caught the whole team by surprise, Van Dijk and Matip also got “rinsed.” It was a good counter attack off a large distribution error. Trent made a lot of big defensive plays today
yeah i actually was impressed. but 3 players in that sequence could’ve done slightly better and they wouldn’t have conceded
Yeah but same can be said for any goal. Somebody could have closed down Trent. As an LFC fan, I was just hoping to score and lose by less than 2
true. but i just feel trent needs to do a lot better than letting the defender just glide by him. more than made up for it
You can say that about any goal in fairness
Alisson made the initial error, then Szoboszlai and TAA got beaten far, far too easily.
Yes, the distribution error made the opportunity in the first place. But Liverpool don’t concede there if Aké doesn’t take two defenders out of the game with a pretty simple sidestep
So we can all agree that Trent wasn’t solely at fault for the goal then lol
He got rinsed a bunch of times. Guy is an unbelievable passer of the ball but defending is simply not his strong suit.
He had a bad start last season defending. Very bad. But overall he’s just fine. And considering them number he had 2+ seasons ago he as a right back is world class.
Yesterday he could have done better at City’s goal but after that he was really good.
Yep, he gives so much extra going forward that you’ll take him not being the best defender in the world but FFS Southgate, he isn’t a midfielder.
Stick him at RB. Jeez.
Southgate doesn’t have the tactical nous to understand how to use Trent at RB. Same reason Foden isn’t usually a first choice player - no idea to use him so doesn’t get the best out of him, and blames the player rather than himself. I bet most other national teams in the world would kill to have Trent and Foden.
He’s not a good defender. His positional and awareness of what’s going on around him is not good. Which I don’t understand because his attacking awareness is good. He’s not a terrible defender by any means. But you have to ask; if it wasn’t for his attacking prowess, would he still be in the team. I suspect not.
No, his crossing was shocking again today
I assume last season you lived under a Rock all year n never saw him defend , he’s not a defender