It was a game to forget for Trent Alexander-Arnold against Manchester United, that’s for sure. But it appears the Liverpool fanbase won’t be forgetting about it for at least a few days after the right-back was bossed by Diogo Dalot and struggled on and off the ball.
Fans can forgive off games. Every player in the history of football has had poor performances. What they can’t forgive, particularly from an academy graduate, a boyhood supporter of the club and the vice-captain, is an apparent lack of effort and intensity. Especially in a fixture as important as this.
Social media has been awash with clips of Alexander-Arnold moving at half-speed rather than rushing to get back to get into position and help his team-mates out defensively. It has led to claims his head is already in Madrid.
His display earned him some vocal rollickings on the pitch from Virgil van Dijk, who was less than impressed with one wayward late pass that led to a United counter-attack the captain had to thwart himself. Other clips show Alexander-Arnold defending halfheartedly for Lisandro Martinez’s opening goal.
Conor Bradley’s efforts off the bench only made Alexander-Arnold’s look worse. Liverpool’s No.66 didn’t win a single duel in 86 minutes on the pitch while Bradley needed less than a minute off the bench to win one.
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It isn’t just Bradley who has left the full-back with egg on his face. So too did Andy Robertson and Darwin Nunez. Both were also poor against United. like Alexander-Arnold.
Robertson also won just one duel in his full 90 minutes and is having a disappointing season. But yet there were no clips of the Scot in which he could be accused of a lack of effort. Instead, the left-back gave his all.
That is partly why he’s not the player he was a few seasons ago. He has given so much to the cause for the last eight years that physically he is simply in decline - it is comparable to the way in which Fabinho deteriorated in 2022-23.
It is not his effort levels that are up for question. The same goes for Nunez. The Uruguayan striker has more yellow cards than goals and assists this season - he is not having a good season whatsoever.
It appears he does not suit Slot’s slower more measured style and he is also taking far less shots than under Klopp. Having needed 108 to score 11 goals last year, this season he’s had only 21 shots, returning two goals. He is a player who needs a great number of shots to score a respectable number of goals.
Yet despite his lack of output, another criticism that cannot be labelled at Nunez is a lack of effort. He is relentless in his pressing even though he lacks finesse on the ball and has struggled not just with his finishing but his general play.
That he gives 100 per cent for the cause is never in any doubt, the same as it isn’t for Robertson. It is of course the minimum requirement at this level.
But the clips of Alexander-Arnold’s defending - which was labelled “schoolboy stuff” by Roy Keane on Sky Sports - unfortunately mean the same argument cannot always be made for the Englishman. That was not 100 per cent effort and determination.
And that means there is little to argue against the idea the Real Madrid speculation is taking its toll on him. He remains likely to remain at Anfield beyond the January transfer window but if Liverpool are to win any trophies in what appear to be his final months on Merseyside, his effort levels simply must improve.
