Jurgen Klopp has revealed he had no doubts about using Trent Alexander-Arnold as an inverted full-back for Liverpool.
The England international has been utilised in such a way for the Reds’ 2-2 draw with Arsenal and 6-1 victory over Leeds United, with the change of set-up seeing him push forward alongside Fabinho in central midfield when Liverpool are on the ball.
Alexander-Arnold was lauded for his role against Leeds in particular, while his change of position has seen him claim three assists from the Reds’ last two games.
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Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Nottingham Forest, Klopp revealed Liverpool have really only worked on the tactical switch for a week in training. However, he said he never had any doubts about Alexander-Arnold in the role, admitting the bigger adaptation was for his team-mates around him.
“In each position he played for us, Trent was always a super-important player,” Klopp told reporters. “This now slightly advanced role suits him in the moment really well.
“It's good, it’s a challenge for everyone else to cover the spaces when we lose the ball theoretically, but with him there we didn't lose that many balls, which was helpful as well.
“But it's not written in stone (that we stick with it). Why should we? He can play in different ways and how he played the last two games was really, really good, that's true.”
He continued: “(We worked on it for) a week but it's not the first time that we play it like that. We have a lot of situations. It's slightly different but not as different as we had it in some other games when Trent was all the time in the right-back position or higher up.
“We had a week. That is absolutely okay. Trent is a smart player but it is more about how we set it up around Trent. That he can play the position was never in doubt but you have to set it up around him because there are moments when we lose the ball, we have a different formation.
“Where's Robbo in these moments, where's Virgil and Ibou? How do we get him on the ball, because that is obviously important.
“We sit here and talk about it and whether we do it like this or not tomorrow we will see, but if Trent shows up there maybe he gets a man-marker, that's possible, and if he doesn't get the ball then we have to deal with that.
“It is now not the solution for all the football problems we had this year, but he has potential to play that position, that was always clear, especially in the way we do it now with defending on the right-back. We will see where it leads to.”
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