- Trent Alexander-Arnold is versatile.
- The player has excelled in the hybrid full-back role.
- Arne Slot could use the player in his preferred role in the new season.
It’s a question that many Liverpool fans and pundits are wondering about: what role will right-back and vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold play under new manager Arne Slots ?
The 25-year-old played as a hybrid full-back under former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp last season and has been used in midfield in six of England’s last seven games. It still unclear where Alexander-Arnold will be deployed.
In Liverpool’s 4-1 win over Sevilla at Anfield last week, Alexander-Arnold played at right-back and impressed, providing an assist for Portuguese striker Diogo Jota’s stunning goal.
Former Liverpool U21 pundit and assistant coach Tim Jenkins said: “He used to play in midfield for Pep Lijnders ’ U16s in a diamond formation. He was in the middle of the pitch and involved in everything that happened.
“When he came into the Under-18s with manager Neil Critchley they started to help Trent get a little bit more physical. So he was playing outside right wing or right full-back and before that with the Under-16s he had played centre-half and full-back for the Under-15s.”
“I remember him standing out after the 2016-17 pre-season with the first ทางเข้า ufabet team and then coming back to the Under-21s. We played Leicester at home and Jurgen came to watch. We were 4-0 up at half-time and Trent was creating everything from the right. He seemed to be three or four levels above the rest.”
“A week later we played Tottenham and it was the same again. He was the best player on the pitch. He scored from distance in that game and he scored again shortly. After and made his first-team debut in the League Cup,” said Jenkins, now assistant manager at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Since breaking into the Liverpool first team. Alexander-Arnold has continued to develop the passing, vision and creativity he developed as a midfielder and the skills he excelled at as a full-back.
Former Liverpool right-back Jason McAteer said: “Football has evolved now. Full-backs today are more like wing-backs. You have to play forward. You have to get the ball into the box and you have a hybrid role when you come into midfield.
“Trent has a lot of qualities that you have to have to make an impact in the team. You look at Trent now, he’s matured, he’s developed tremendously.”
“If you look at the assists from the beginning of his career, they were from elephant crosses. But now he’s in the middle of the pitch and he can pass from there,” Jenkins added. “Trent has got the skills to adapt to changes in the game.”
“If you look at the footage of him playing when he was younger, he’s the same player he is now. You see his runs, his strength, his short passing and his long passing. He just adapts his strengths to the position he plays.”
In the pre-season, Slots often used a 4-2-3-1 and 4-2-2-2 formation, with both full-backs involved in the attack. It is expected that Alexander-Arnold will start at right-back and gradually move to his usual hybrid full-back role.