Liverpool News: Was Trent Alexander-Arnold’s scrutiny against Man Utd justified? – statistics

“It wasn’t his best game” and “schoolboy stuff.”

After Sunday’s game against Manchester United, Liverpool manager Arne Slot admitted that right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold was not at his best, while former midfielder turned pundit Roy Keane lamented the defender’s performance.

But was Alexander-Arnold’s performance really that bad?

It depends where you look.

After reports emerged during the week that Real Madrid had approached Liverpool about the 26-year-old, who is out of contract at the end of the season, there was always going to be more attention on him during this match.

With almost 55% of United’s attack falling down Liverpool’s right according to Opta, it was clear that Ruben Amorim’s side were targeting any potential vulnerability, and the creativity of Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot took full advantage.

But this is not the first time Alexander-Arnold’s defensive capabilities have been questioned and, even this season, he has statistically had worse games.

Against the Red Devils, the England international lost possession 27 times, the second most by a Liverpool player in the Premier League this season, but still fewer times than he gave up in the defeat to Nottingham Forest (33) earlier in the season. this season. .

What would be worrying for Reds fans, however, is the regularity with which he loses large amounts of possession during matches, with the right-back appearing seven times in the top 10 for lost possession in matches by Liverpool players. this campaign.

Remarkably, Alexander-Arnold was only dribbled twice by his opponents on Sunday, a figure he himself has surpassed on six other occasions so far this season.

But, with no tackles recorded and all five of his games lost, his willingness and ability to get caught up in such an intense derby for Reds fans will have frustrated fans.

Despite this, Alexander-Arnold won possession more times (eight), had more touches (97), made more interceptions (four) and equaled the number of passes (63) than any Liverpool player in the match.

And, as shown in their heat maps, the defender covered more ground than fellow full-back Andy Robertson, although the amount of play United played on the right side will have had an impact.

With the silly transfer season just beginning and the games only going to get tougher, the scrutiny around Alexander-Arnold looks set to intensify.