Topic: Trent Alexander-Arnold

[J-Mc-]

Pre-season friendly or not, not many 19 year olds can say they had Ribery in their back pocket all game.

This lad is going to be our number 1 right back in years to come, just needs to keep his head down and stay focused.

[So… Howard Philips]

You can obviously still see the areas where Jurgen wants him to improve. Defensively he can get caught out but not in a Moreno way of just being a bit brainless. Just in a 'he is 18 years old' kind of way. I think with Jurgen working hard with him day in day out on the training field, as well as learning bits and pieces from a decent defender like Clyne, we could have the best and most complete right full back in the league and one of the best around Europe within 5 years. By which point he'd still only be 23 years old.

Nooooo. Don't get carried away yet.

Having said that he does look a very good prospect but let's not go full Everton on a very promising youngster. 

[TepidT2O]

Thought he did ok today.

Being critical, he shoved Ribery over quite a few times today and would have got booked in a league match.  Grew into himself as the match went on though and became more calm and composed.
Still, hell of an opponent to pay against and he did a good job.

[Ravishing Rick Dude]

That should be a real confidence builder for the lad. it certainly was a confidence builder for me!

And he earned a bearly hug from Klopp in the end.

[Djimi Smicer34]

I thought he was great tonight.  There's obviously still a long way to go in his development, Klopp stresses that every chance he gets, but I think this coming season is going to be the one where Alexander-Arnold really stakes his claim as a regular.  I'm really really excited by his potential, think he's a special young player.

[Hymer Red]

I thought he was great tonight.  There's obviously still a long way to go in his development, Klopp stresses that every chance he gets, but I think this coming season is going to be the one where Alexander-Arnold really stakes his claim as a regular.  I'm really really excited by his potential, think he's a special young player.

What he said :-)

[newterp]

Trent is pretty fast didn't realize that.

[Crimson_Tank]

Looked very confident today.

[Jinxsy]

My full scouting report: TAA is boss

[Rattleduser]

impressive performance tonight

[Living Legends]

Incredible. Staking a serious first team place.
What great problem for our manager.

[SerbianScouser]

Didn't expect him to be this competitive against someone like Ribery even if it was just a practice match. Very encouraging, he's getting better and stronger with every game.

[kasperoff]

Loving the pace. Looked great today.

[RedForeverTT]

Nooooo. Don't get carried away yet.

Having said that he does look a very good prospect but let's not go full Everton on a very promising youngster. 

Too late to reverse that now. We have gone full Everton as soon as the Munich match started

[joekim87]

Always wanted to see Flanno go onto become a club legend but that seems VERY unlikely now. I hope TAA will become that fullback.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Attacks like a man, defends like a boy. Klopp said that a couple of days ago, thats where he needs to improve

[Chig]

The art of defence normally come with maturity and experience. I think this lad will do alright for us at RB in the future.

[Bobinhood]

Super happy with this kid and Woodburn too.

[ChaChaMooMoo]

Good game in my opinion. There were a couple of moments in the first half when Klopp shouted at him (and Firmino) to stay wide while München played out from the defence to contain Ribery and Alaba. But overall I felt this guy had very solid game.

[JackWard33]

Attacks like a man, defends like a boy. Klopp said that a couple of days ago, thats where he needs to improve

Agree. He really does look a huge talent going forward. He also got lost several times defending last night. Be interesting to see how we use him this season

[lamonti]

Attacks like a man, defends like a boy. Klopp said that a couple of days ago, thats where he needs to improve

Yeah I can't help but imagine hearing that quote that after every game he plays next season when he's a yard out of place or whatever. The "defending like a boy" was his performance getting tortured by Arnautovic for 45 minutes last season at the Britannia, not what he did last night.

The lad is the biggest talent out of the academy for since Sterling... if we don't give him game time, we might as well shut the place down.

[LallanaInPyjamas]

Yeah I can't help but imagine hearing that quote that after every game he plays next season when he's a yard out of place or whatever. The "defending like a boy" was his performance getting tortured by Arnautovic for 45 minutes last season at the Britannia, not what he did last night.

The lad is the biggest talent out of the academy for since Sterling... if we don't give him game time, we might as well shut the place down.

He's our second choice right-back, he'll get more than enough game time.

I thought he was a bit rash at times last night but it will have been a good learning curve for him to have played against Ribery (albeit in a friendly). Martial, Redmond, Arnautovic, Ribery... these are top level wide left players he's come up against and while there's definitely been some bad moments in there, that's perfectly understandable for an 18-year-old still learning the position to an extent. As long as he keeps displaying what he can do going forward while improving and learning defensively, he'll continue to be a nice option for us to have.

[Working Class Hen-Pecked Hero]

Loved the way Lewandowski shoved him and was not expecting a massive shove back off TAA near the touch line. Lewa ended up in the crowd

[JackWard33]

Yeah I can't help but imagine hearing that quote that after every game he plays next season when he's a yard out of place or whatever. The "defending like a boy" was his performance getting tortured by Arnautovic for 45 minutes last season at the Britannia, not what he did last night.

The lad is the biggest talent out of the academy for since Sterling... if we don't give him game time, we might as well shut the place down.

Watch the first half an hour again. 3 times he gets lost in their build up play and they end up with a man free with possession in our box, he also dove in a couple of times.

He absolutely should get game time and he's a huge talent - but he still has big holes in his game defensively. Not his fault he hasn't even been a full back that long

[suede lady]

Thought he did ok today.

Being critical, he shoved Ribery over quite a few times today and would have got booked in a league match.  Grew into himself as the match went on though and became more calm and composed.
Still, hell of an opponent to pay against and he did a good job.

I agree with this assessment. When he got done in son situations he ended up shoving the player over. Would certainly have been booked in proper games. In one way it is not necessary a bad thing, but it could be costly.

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Yeah I can't help but imagine hearing that quote that after every game he plays next season when he's a yard out of place or whatever. The "defending like a boy" was his performance getting tortured by Arnautovic for 45 minutes last season at the Britannia, not what he did last night.

The lad is the biggest talent out of the academy for since Sterling... if we don't give him game time, we might as well shut the place down.

Didn't say he shouldn't be given time

[lamonti]

Watch the first half an hour again. 3 times he gets lost in their build up play and they end up with a man free with possession in our box, he also dove in a couple of times.

He absolutely should get game time and he's a huge talent - but he still has big holes in his game defensively. Not his fault he hasn't even been a full back that long

Yeah, I agree there were errors there last night early on – Matip covered really well for them mostly, and Moreno (Moreno!) dug him out by winning a far post header against Lewa. I guess Klopp shouldn't deliver such pithy soundbites if he doesn't want to be endlessly quoted!

I guess what I'm saying is there's a difference between a whole heap of difference between that opening part of last night's game (which was the most we'd been dominated, possession-wise, since maybe City away, maybe longer) and the way he played when he had to be hooked against Stoke.***


*** I fully concede that may always have been the plan that afternoon, because I didn't think Woodburn looked bad in that half but still got hooked. TAA had a bad half though.

[Ravishing Rick Dude]

Attacks like a man, defends like a boy. Klopp said that a couple of days ago, thats where he needs to improve

That's the problem with young fullbacks,because fullbacks have to deal with opponent's wingers who are always the fastest and trickiest in the team.

[ToneLa]

Attacks like a man, defends like a boy. Klopp said that a couple of days ago, thats where he needs to improve

No 

he said the opposite:

Yes, he is a kid, but the moment he can defend like a man, he can play regularly in the Premier League.

[rob1966]

No 

he said the opposite:

Yes, he is a kid, but the moment he can defend like a man, he can play regularly in the Premier League.

Read it carefully, he is saying that he currently defends like a boy and therefore is not ready for the Premier League yet. ("the moment he can defend he'll be ready")

[ToneLa]

I don't see why our manager would say "he defends like a boy"... more likely he's saying:

he is a kid, but AT the moment he can defend like a man (he sees potential)

Whatever, it shouldn't be something used to knock TAA! Just my take on it, trust in Klopp

[LallanaInPyjamas]

I don't see why our manager would say "he defends like a boy"... more likely he's saying:

he is a kid, but AT the moment he can defend like a man (he sees potential)

Whatever, it shouldn't be something used to knock TAA! Just my take on it, trust in Klopp

Just read the quote? He's clearly saying as soon as Trent's defending improves (to a 'man' standard) then he has a good chance of starting league games regularly.

Klopp can't always be the 100% nice guy, be it to us or his players. It's nothing to do with trust or knocking TAA, he's simply trying to motivate a young player whilst managing expectations.

[ToneLa]

I get that sense but I think there's an element of broken English... Maybe I'm wrong!  But either way it shows he rates him I guess

[Chalky Boots]

Thought he did ok today.

Being critical, he shoved Ribery over quite a few times today and would have got booked in a league match.  Grew into himself as the match went on though and became more calm and composed.
Still, hell of an opponent to pay against and he did a good job.

I think most fullbacks have that issue against him to be fair. But yeah if he's less obvious quite a lot of those get waved on and Ribery will at some point lose his cool like he always does.


Really impressed by him though and he definitely defended like a man for the most part; there was a part around the 35th-40th minute where he looked gassed and Klopp was cajoling him to get back into position mind.

[Mutton Geoff]

Early days but from what i have seen so far this lad might come good. Very assured last night gets sucked into the foul a bit but hell he was up against one sneaky bastard of a player

[Magz50]

Still raw but bags of potential to be our starting RB for many years. Needs to learn to keep his hands down though when going in for a challenge. That will come with time, excited to see him develop!

[Lemieux]

“That’s not a problem. I can’t teach him playing football because he is already good at that but I can teach him how to deal with one-on-ones.

“Because I could do that and I was a really bad footballer!”

I'm sure the same applies for Trent.

[newterp]

Starting next Saturday I would expect? Unless Milner is shifted to RB and Robertson/Moreno start at LB. 

Clyne can't be ready for the first game - maybe not even the CL 1st leg.

[IndianRed]

He's not alert enough for me defensively to start against the better sides in the league. He needs to learn to be switched on at all times when we don't have the ball. He has shown that he can defend well in spurts so its not a question of ability for me. Finding that consistency is what will determine if he can be a first team regular for us. 

[joekim87]

I'm happy to see him start the season at right back. Having him and Monero on the other side could be a problem defensively... Could but I want to have faith.