All of a sudden, that £20million fee that Real Madrid are said to be willing to pay for Trent Alexander-Arnold this month looks a bit steep.
Of course, the tongue is firmly in cheek with that comment. But his performance on Sunday made it harder to grumble with the theory that the Spanish champions’ charm offensive has planted a seed of doubt or distraction in Alexander-Arnold’s mind.
Roy Keane joked on Sky Sports: ‘Trent’s defending is like schoolboy stuff… talking about going to Real Madrid, he’ll go to Tranmere Rovers after this’. Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher added later: ‘Awful, he’s not at the races. He may need to come off.’
Those jibes came either side of plenty of episodes of frustration from around Anfield. Fans in the Kop told of supporters getting on Alexander-Arnold’s back with every loose pass, while one to the right of the press box was heard shouting: ‘If you don’t want to be here, f*** off’.
Verbally abusing your own players in such a way is too far but, though that particular gentleman in the Main Stand was in the minority, grumbles could be heard across the stadium all afternoon. ‘Get him off,’ was another heard several times, directed at the dugout.
Frustration was not limited to the stands, either, as captain Virgil van Dijk was seen screaming at Alexander-Arnold on more than one occasion. To be fair, the Dutchman was moaning at everyone – Liverpool’s performance across the board took a dip on this season’s standards.
Trent Alexander-Arnold endured a miserable night against Man United as Liverpool drew 2-2
Both of United’s goals came from attacks down the left, with Alexander-Arnold struggling
A huge 53.8 per cent of United’s attacks came down Alexander-Arnold’s flank – compared to just 28.1 per cent on the other side – with Diogo Dalot excellent in particular. Both of their goals spawned from their left, Lisandro Martinez and Alejandro Garnacho exposing space.
Clearly, the Reds right back was being targeted. Another statistic was even more damning. The Reds right back did not win a single duel in the time he was on the pitch — but Conor Bradley won his very first one upon coming on as a substitute.
Northern Irish youngster Bradley also nearly won the game in the dying embers after skipping past a defender and then trying his luck. What a narrative that would have been.
Boss Arne Slot was in the minority with his view on Alexander-Arnold, though, and when asked if his performance stunk of distraction, said: ‘I don’t believe in those things. Nine out of 10 people will say it affected him but I’m the one that tells you it did not.
‘What affected him is that he had to play against Bruno Fernandes and Dalot, two starters for Portugal who are great, great players. We have a fantastic player here in Diogo Jota and he mostly does not play for Portugal – so that tells you how much quality United have.
‘It was clear Trent had some difficult moments… as did we as a team. The majority of the games he has played for this club have been very good. But I cannot believe if people tell me he has never played a bad game for this club, that has happened before.’
Fair points made by Slot. And it is probably unfair to over-criticise one performance. It was not like he scored a pair of own goals or let the team down with a red card. It was Alexander-Arnold’s searching cross, after all, that led to the penalty to make it 2-1.
But fans’ frustration was not at passes going astray, it was at lacklustre defending. Too many times he was too slow to close down his man, often left chasing the shadows of Dalot, Fernandes et al.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot insisted that the 26-year-old was not distracted by the news of Real Madrid’s £20million bid this week, with his contract at Anfield up at the end of the campaign
Gary Neville (right) suggested that Alexander-Arnold may feel disrespected in this country
If Bradley had not missed the last month with a hamstring injury, he may well have come on a lot earlier. Some fans pointed the finger at Slot for keeping Alexander-Arnold on so long when he was clearly struggling. He was also often isolated and not getting enough help from others.
Obviously, honing in on and examining his performance makes it sound worse than it was. It was bad, that is a fair verdict — but it was by no means the catastrophic mess some in the stands were making it out to be.
Gary Neville put it well on Sky when he talked about how Alexander-Arnold is viewed in this country. ‘He probably feels in this country he doesn’t get the respect he deserves,’ said the former right back.
‘I’ve been critical of his defensive performances. If anybody came in for me I’d never leave my club. That doesn’t mean I was right.’
The 26-year-old will bounce back from this bad day at the office but the problem he now has is that, while this saga is ongoing, fans will criticise him for things that other players may get a free pass for.
It reminds one of a Gordon Ramsey Hell’s Kitchen clip, where the TV chef loses his cool at one contestant and calls them an ‘idiot’, only to offer words of encouragement to another foodie for making the exact same error.
This Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid storyline is still in its infancy but it already feels like the Scouser is losing control of the narrative.
He either needs to come out and remind the fans of his love for the club — denying all the accusations of not trying and trying to silence the noise — or, as he has done most of his career, do his talking on the pitch.
At the moment he is doing neither and the fanbase is being lulled into a state of unease. There is a Premier League title to be won and Liverpool cannot allow things like this to get in the way.
