Jurgen Klopp has added to the debate around Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s role in the team by acknowledging Liverpool can lose out on having “one of the best right-backs” if he’s in midfield.
“Why make the best right-back in the world a midfielder,” Klopp asked back in 2021 after Gareth Southgate utilised the No. 66 in one of his first midfield experiments.
Over the years we have seen Alexander-Arnold’s role evolve, especially last year when his position was inverted to help Liverpool’s struggling midfield, and it worked.
He was creative and made the team tick when they were stagnating. So far this season, though, he has not been as involved or as threatening, and Klopp’s latest comments over his right-back in midfield are enlightening.
“Yeah, a possibility [to play in midfield],” the manager said of Alexander-Arnold’s positioning in his pre-Brentford press conference, which This Is Anfield understands took place before the defeat at Toulouse.
“It depends on the situation, the opponent, on a lot of things. We know that he can play there.
“For us, if we just put him there then we lose one of the best right-backs in the world, so we should not forget that completely at least.
“Of course he is an option for that position.”
It is one thing to be an option and another to be used effectively, as no longer does the No. 66 provide width on the right flank and drive the team forward, which is all the more noticeable in Andy Robertson‘s absence.
The pair were once Liverpool’s creative hub but there is now a strong argument for him to more readily revert to a more ‘typical’ position so that Liverpool do not lose the qualities of “one of the best right-backs in the world.”
That Klopp acknowledges what the Reds can lose out on in the right-back position if Alexander-Arnold is in midfield speaks volumes, but yet his role remains unchanged this campaign.
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