Jurgen Klopp has explained his decision to play Trent Alexander-Arnold as an inverted full-back in Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal.
The Reds recovered from 2-0 down to earn a share of the spoils against the Gunners, with the England international setting up Roberto Firmino’s late equaliser. However, rather than bombard down the right-flank for the majority of the game, the 24-year-old often pushed inside alongside Fabinho as a second deeper midfielder in front of a back three of Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk, and Andy Robertson.
Such a set-up is similar to systems used by both Man City and Arsenal. And while Klopp would insist it’s not the first time Liverpool have utilised Alexander-Arnold in such a way, he admitted it was more obvious against the Gunners and would take more time for his side to adapt to such a tactic.
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“Yeah, it’s not the first time,” he told reporters. “We did that before but maybe it was not that obvious.
“We did that before, where we put Trent inside. Today in the build-up, Trent played more inside. Double six, that’s how it is.
“We need to get used to it, obviously. I would say it is a big step to do that in a game against Arsenal.
“It opened up different opportunities for us. If you watch it back you will see that it will have to be learned when to use it. Hendo was not wide, stayed inside. Then we could really pass first pass down to Mo. Mo kept the ball really well today and we could go from there.
“I thought he did well. It was not the first time, but not for a while we executed it.”
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