True to form, Roy Keane pulled no punches with his assessment of one Liverpool player’s performance in the first half against Manchester United today.
Amid ongoing speculation over his future at Anfield, Trent Alexander-Arnold has largely been excellent this season, but he endured a difficult opening 45 minutes this evening as the visitors found some joy along his side of the pitch.
The Irish pundit has been scathing of the 26-year-old’s defensive capabilities in the past, and it was no surprise that he was singing from that same hymn sheet today.
Keane criticises Trent’s defending
Speaking at half-time on Sky Sports, Keane gave an unforgiving assessment of Trent’s first-half performance at Anfield.
The ex-Manchester United captain observed: “Trent Alexander-Arnold has been all over the place defensively. His defending has been schoolboy stuff. He’s got to do better.”
Keane isn’t wrong in this instance, sadly…
The narrative about Trent being defensively suspect can often be lazy and tiring, but unfortunately we’re finding it difficult to disagree with Keane in this instance.
As early as the fourth minute, Diogo Dalot skipped past the Liverpool vice-captain in a dangerous position to set up an early chance for United, just as he did in the 20th minute to cross for Amad Diallo, who inexplicably headed the ball behind him.
The Reds’ number 66 later played Rasmus Hojlund onside to leave the Danish striker with a gilt-edged opportunity, only for Alisson Becker to bail out the home side with a crucial save.
In the first half, Trent lost all four of his duels, was dribbled past twice, failed to find a teammate with any of his three crosses and lost the ball 11 times, the most of anyone in Arne Slot’s side (Sofascore).
Keane can sometimes be too quick to get on a Liverpool player, but even we’d have to admit that his verdict about the England international’s opening 45 minutes wasn’t out of order.
We know that the 26-year-old can do so much better – hopefully he shows it in the second half.
