Liverpool: Trent Alexander-Arnold – what is his best position?
“The game has evolved now,” says former Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers and Republic of Ireland player Jason McAteer, who, like Alexander-Arnold, played as a right-back and a central midfielder during his career.
“Today’s full-back is a lot more like a wing-back. You’ve got to get forward. You’ve got to get balls into the box. And you have this hybrid role where you come into midfield.
“Trent has got that many attributes that you’ve got to get him into the team. You look at Trent now and he’s grown up, he’s evolved.”
That evolution has seen Alexander-Arnold’s influence at Anfield grow. With a range of passing, vision and creativity honed during his past as a midfielder, his unique skillset has allowed him to become a playmaker from full-back.
In the 2018-19 season – the first campaign in which he started more than half of Liverpool’s Premier League games – Alexander-Arnold registered 12 assists, the third-highest tally in the top flight.
His 13 assists the following season was second only to Kevin de Bruyne, and only team-mate Mohamed Salah bettered his tally of 12 for the 2021-22 campaign.
Last season, Alexander-Arnold’s average of 5.25 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes in the Premier League and Europa League ranked in the 99th percentile among full-backs in Europe’s top five divisions.
He was also in the 99th percentile when it came to expected assisted goals per 90 (0.37) and passes attempted (87.71) and the 98th percentile for progressive passes (8.69).
He ranked eighth among outfielders in the Premier League for total successful long passes (147) and third for switches of play (32).
“If you look at the assists from earlier in his career, they came from wide,” Jenkins says. “More recently, he’s been able to move inside into the half-space and deliver from there. Trent has had an ideal skillset to adapt to how the game has changed.
“If you see footage of him playing when he was little, he was basically the same player. You’d see all the driving runs, the physical attributes, his ball-striking and his passing over distance. He’s just adapted his strengths into whatever position he plays.”
#Liverpool #Trent #AlexanderArnold #position