Pundits blast ‘atrocious’ Liverpool player as Klopp starts the season with a draw
A number of pundits have criticised Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold for his role in Fulham’s opening goal on Saturday afternoon.
The Reds came from a goal down twice to rescue a point in a 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage with Aleksandar Mitrovic scoring twice for Fulham.
Mitrovic opened his account for the season on 32 minutes when a lovely move down the left ended with Kenny Tete crossing for his Serbian team-mate, who towered above Alexander-Arnold to head home.
Transfer gossip: Man Utd approach Bayern star but face Liverpool competition; De Jong swap
It was too easy for Mitrovic to score and a number of pundits have criticised the Liverpool defender for not making more of an effort to stop the Fulham striker.
Speaking on BT Sport, former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch said: “As a forward, you see those crosses and your eyes light up.
“Fulham get the ball down the side, this ball here (Tety’s delivery) – I used to do it a lot, pull on the full-back. And Trent just couldn’t deal with it.
“He’s [Trent] got to be stronger. As you jump, you can barge him or put him off or even hold onto him. You need to have more strength there defensively.”
Sky Sports pundit Kris Boyd was similarly frustrated at the defending, he said: “Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defending on the goal is atrocious. He doesn’t even know that Mitrovic is behind him and he just comes and bullies him.”
While former Premier League midfielder Robbie Mustoe told NBC: “That’s what you want your No 9 (Mitrovic) to do. Liverpool have plenty of numbers back but Trent Alexander-Arnold has got to be stronger.
“This tells you everything – he doesn’t jump, he’s kind of cowering a little bit, he’s not facing the play, he’s not aware what’s behind him and that’s just smashed at the back post there.”
Jordan Henderson says the Reds have work to do following the 2-2 draw with Fulham on the opening day.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 7, 2022
Darwin Nunez and Mo Salah were on the scoresheet for the Reds against Fulham, but it was a below-par performance, and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was not happy after the match.
Comparing their performance against Fulham to their Community Shield victory over Manchester City last week, Klopp said: “I would have loved to get three points but I would have loved much more to play really good, to be honest, and we didn’t do that. That’s why I’m now in the mood.
“It’s my responsibility to find out why we played like that last Saturday (and why) we look like completely upside down (today). That doesn’t make sense and that’s my responsibility.
“So we may need to improve, figure out what went wrong.”
