Brian Kerr and Kenny Cunningham joined Joe Molloy to discuss Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Liverpool are a worse team this year. That's inarguable.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has never been a good defender, but there's an argument that he's never been this bad of a defender either. Alexander-Arnold has lowlights from almost every game this season. Often they're part of highlights for the opposition scoring goals.
While he's always been prone to finding himself out of position and he's suffered lapses of concentration, this season his effort has also disappeared.
Klopp regularly takes his fullbacks off during the second halves of games. James Milner replaces Alexander-Arnold so he's not being replaced by a defender. As key cogs in Liverpool's press, attack and defence, the fullbacks at Anfield are stressed more than any other. Competing in four tournaments stressed them more than anyone else, so some fatigue was predictable.
You can then add in an international window after the end of the season and an early start to preseason to really wear everyone out.
But Kenny Cunningham and Brian Kerr don't think it's just fatigue with Alexander-Arnold.
"Trent not running back quick enough when it's behind him that's extraordinary," Kerr said.
"That can't be just tiredness. That's not tiredness. It's a mental attitude, it's not switching on. I don't get that at all."
For Alexander-Arnold to fix it, he needs to alter his mindset. He needs to take as much pride in winning his matchup in defence as he does setting up chances for his teammates in attack. Only he can do that. Only he can make that change.
"It is a mental thing," Cunningham agreed.
"But that's down to him. He's got to resolve that and it's one of the easiest things [to fix]. You can't tell me the last 4-5-6 years, they haven't been sitting down with Trent Alexander-Arnold saying 'Listen, you're the best right back in the world, but we need to tidy up a few things defensively.'
"His positional sense, defending the back post area. It's the easy stuff."
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