Trent Alexander-Arnold has been told he is “getting found out” after another disappointing evening for Liverpool.
The Reds’ poor start to the Premier League season continued against Manchester United at Old Trafford as goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford condemned Jurgen Klopp ’s men to defeat. They have now gone three games without a win at the start of the campaign and need a reversal in fortunes sooner rather than later if they want to stand any chance of challenging for the title.
Alexander-Arnold in particular endured a tricky evening at Old Trafford and has been told by former Liverpool forward Dean Saunders that opposition players are now becoming wise on how to get the better of him - a theme that he first noticed during the Champions League defeat to Real Madrid at the end of last seaso n.
Analysing the game with talkSPORT, the 58-year-old said: “[It was] a bad start and some poor defending from number one: Trent and number two: [Joe] Gomez. Looked as if [he] was rusty and had a tough night last night.
“Trent, I don’t know, for the first goal, he gets one-two’d. Don’t get me wrong, going forward [he’s] world class but defensively he’s getting found out. Mitrovic came over the top of him at Fulham.
“Vinicius Jr in the Champions League final does him at the back post. He gave the ball away for the goal against Palace and last night, he jogs out to Elanga. He gets one-two’d and then walks, comes to Sancho in the box.
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“Van Dijk should have gone out and closed the ball down so it’s partly his fault as well but if Trent keeps running, he gets his foot in when he chops back inside.
“The second goal, he hits a diagonal into the box, loses it and he doesn’t sprint back. [Rashford] looked to me offside by the way but it wasn’t given. Gomez is left in the channel stranded.”
Following their defeat against Man Utd, Liverpool have now gone three matches without a win at the start of the season for the first time since the 2012/13 campaign under Brendan Rodgers. The Reds had to wait until their sixth match to earn their first victory during that particular season and ended up finishing seventh in the Premier League table.
The Merseysiders have a great opportunity to end their wait for a victory next weekend as they come up against newly-promoted Bournemouth at Anfield. Scott Parker’s Cherries have lost two out of their opening three matches of the season thus far and were batted aside by Arsenal last time out.
Klopp could potentially field the same starting XI for that clash with the club's injury problems showing no sign of abating.
