Jurgen Klopp says he does not understand continued criticism of Trent Alexander-Arnold's defensive abilities.
"Absolutely, I don’t understand that, that’s true, but I don’t think I will change that with whatever I will say," Klopp said after Liverpool's 1-0 victory over West Ham on Saturday.
"But if he couldn’t defend, he would not play here, at least not that in that position. He improved in all departments and defending of course as well.
"But he is that young that he can improve and has to improve, but yes, his defending is not a problem we have."
"That was a miss hit shot wasn't it?" 👀
Just Liverpool's Andy Robertson joking about whether teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold meant his landmark assist for Sadio Mane's goal 😂 pic.twitter.com/DUBfZk12fq— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 5, 2022
The 23-year-old had important moments at both ends of the pitch on Saturday. He provided the assist for Sadio Mane's decisive goal, and cleared a goal bound chip off the line.
"When you see him playing I think we help him a little bit with positioning and stuff like this," said Klopp
“We try to bring him into positions, formation-wise, where he can be that influential but of course it’s all about him and his skill-set and his quality and his right foot and his overview.
"That’s it, that he is really in the situation and focused to set up goals in these moments, that he knows where are the dangerous situations and positions in the opposition box or around that and really tries to bring the ball there.
“It’s very helpful if you work together for a longer time because the strikers obviously expect that as well.
“It was a brilliant run from Sadio for the goal. I don’t think it was a shot, by the way, I really think he wanted to bring the ball in the box and then you need somebody who picks it up.
“That was Sadio in this moment, a really good goal.”
16 - Trent Alexander-Arnold has provided 16 assists in all competitions this season for Liverpool, his best return in a campaign in his career, overtaking the 15 he achieved in both 2018-19 and 2019-20. Sweet. pic.twitter.com/wxOkFE0Elt
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 5, 2022
Picture credit: Vlad1988 / Shutterstock.com and cowardlion / Shutterstock.com
Quiz: Name Every Team Relegated From The Premier League In The 90s
