Gary Neville has praised both Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold for their honesty in the post-match interviews that followed Liverpool's 2-1 win at home to Leicester City.
The Reds were dealt an early blow when Kieran Dewsbury-Hall broke free to score inside four minutes, before two Wout Faes own-goals inside eight minutes turned the score on its head going into half-time. Jurgen Klopp's side remain some way off their scintillating best, but managed to scrap through the second 45 minutes to close the gap on the top-four to just two points.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has one of his best defensive games in recent memory, swinging in the cross that Faes flicked into his own net for the equaliser, but it was his defensive work that caught Neville's eye. The 24-year-old has often been criticised for his poor positional play, but an evening spent managing the ever-dangerous Harvey Barnes earned him the Man of the Match and plenty of post-match praise.
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"I have said for two or three years there will come a point with Trent Alexander-Arnold, if he doesn’t attend to his defensive work, it will start to harm him,” Neville told Sky Sports. “I think Kieran Trippier is a really good full-back but Trent Alexander-Arnold, seeing Trippier picked ahead of him in a World Cup game, will have hit home.
“People will say that is because of Gareth Southgate because he’s more pragmatic, but with a team that has not got as much possession, who isn’t in as good of form - like Liverpool in parts of the season - your defensive mistakes will be highlighted more whether it be for England or Liverpool.
“He’s going to have to be expected to defend better and be serious about defending and tonight, you saw him, looking bright. With great respect to Kieran Trippier, we shouldn’t be watching a unique talent like Trent Alexander-Arnold on the bench in a World Cup, looking at players who have got less talent than him. Even though we’ve got great full-backs, we’ve got to make sure we get our great talents on."
Neville went on to single out Alexander-Arnold's positional work before praising both him and van Dijk for their respective interviews. The Reds pair were candid in admitting the performance was far from vintage, but acknowledged a battling performance that kept the three points on Merseyside.
“I watched him very closely," Neville added. "I think I saw one positional error tonight and that’s when Dewsbury-Hall got the header in [he was] just maybe out looking at Harvey Barnes.
“I do want to say, the interviews from [Virgil] van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, the honesty was fantastic because we sometimes get players coming out and not saying how disappointed they are. Well done to them, it’s rare we see that.”
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