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Trent Alexander-Arnold hits back at ‘lazy’ criticism of his defending.
Liverpool and England right-back Trent Alexander- Arnold has brushed off criticism of his defence, claiming that comparisons to other players in his position are unfair.
Gareth Southgate’s limited use of Alexander-Arnold in the build-up to the World Cup reignited the debate about his defensive abilities, and the Liverpool man didn’t help himself with a handful of suspect performances at the club level heading into the tournament.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has regularly come out in defence of Alexander-Arnold and the right-back has now offered his own response to his doubters.
“I think it’s come to a point where it’s the lazy opinion, it’s the lazy thing to say,” he told talkSPORT. “People who kind of just watch the game and see what they want to see, there’s that prejudice I believe now.
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“You see what you want to see at the end of the day. If you’re going to a game and you have a perception that a player’s lazy and you see him once not running then in your mind he’s lazy. You don’t see the rest of the game where they’re running around, sprinting around.
“I suppose that’s where I feel like I’m judged with people going to games or people watch me play football with a preconception of ‘he’s not a good defender’ or ‘he can’t defend well’ so when I do have that one mistake or that one time someone gets past me then that confirms what they think.
“At times it feels like it doesn’t matter how well I do because if I’m not perfect then it’s not good enough and I’m held to standards that potentially other players aren’t held to, but that’s life. You’ve got to get on with it.”
Alexander-Arnold has not yet made an England start at the World Cup after losing out to Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier. In the Three Lions’ triumph over Wales, he played for 30 minutes, taking Walker’s place as the Manchester City player recovered from a groin injury.