Ever since Trent Alexander-Arnold first broke into the Liverpool side back in 2016, there has always been an ongoing debate about the right-back’s position.
Over the past seven seasons, the England international has won every major honour going with the Reds and established himself as one of the best attacking full-backs around. Setting up Roberto Firmino’s equaliser against Arsenal on Easter Sunday, he now boasts 65 career assists for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Yet, for as good as the 24-year-old is on the ball, his defensive attributes have always been scrutinised. As a result, there have always been onlookers who, insisting they know better, believe Alexander-Arnold should be playing in midfield.
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Admittedly his strengths have always outweighed such concerns or calls, with the England international thriving at right-back at a time when Liverpool were one of the very best sides in Europe. But having seen the Reds swiftly lose such status courtesy of an alarming decline this season, calls for the full-back to be pushed into midfield have only grown.
Klopp has always taken issue with such calls, and even hit out at England manager Gareth Southgate’s decision to use his player in midfield against Andorra back in September 2021.
"In this game, in a game where England are that dominant for example, or that we are that dominant that Trent could play in midfield, I would rather he was the six than in this case the eight," the German declared.
"That is possible but why would you make the best right-back in the world a midfielder? I don't understand that really. As if the right-back position is not as important as the others. People who say that I struggle to understand how you could think that."
Yet this season Alexander-Arnold hasn’t been ‘the best right-back in the world’. With Liverpool’s system repeatedly failing them, the right-back has often been targeted by opposing forwards, with so many conceded goals coming from the Reds’ right-hand side.
In last week’s 4-1 defeat to Man City alone, you could point the finger at the defender in some form or another for each of Pep Guardiola’s side’s goals. Following that loss, he was benched for the midweek 0-0 draw at Chelsea.
But restored to the starting XI against Arsenal, Klopp surprisingly gave the ‘Alexander-Arnold is a midfielder’ crowd exactly what they wanted. Kind of.
Utilised as an inverted full-back against the Gunners, the German took a leaf out of both Man City and Arsenal’s books and their usage of John Stones and Oleksandr Zinchenko. As a result, while Alexander-Arnold would line up in his traditional right-back role, when Liverpool were in possession, he’d often push forward and sit alongside Fabinho as a second deeper midfielder in front of a back three, with Ibrahima Konate covering for him on the right-hand side.
In truth, the Reds enjoyed the good and endured the bad from such a tactical switch.
Gabriel Martinelli was Arsenal’s dangerman at Anfield, in the first half especially, with the young Brazilian opening the scoring for the Gunners before setting up Gabriel Jesus for the second. Inside the opening minute, the forward would wriggle past Alexander-Arnold on Liverpool’s right and nearly create an early opener in a sight we have witnessed far too often this season.
With the Reds coming to terms with Alexander-Arnold and Konate’s roles and respective positioning, Arsenal benefitted with extra space both down the left and in the middle either side of Virgil van Dijk. At one point, it looked like they would run riot.
As a result, such gaps and struggles suggested that such a tactical switch was one introduced out of desperation, having been on the receiving end of a 4-1 spanking when undone by the same formation a week earlier.
But then Liverpool fought back late in the first half, before dominating after the break, with Alexander-Arnold right at the heart of the action as they showed the method in Klopp’s madness.
Oozing class on the ball and creating chance after chance as he dropped into midfield, his total of 76 touches was the joint-most on the pitch. Meanwhile, no-one could better his total of four key passes, while he came close to scoring himself late on with one 25-yard piledriver.
Defensively, he was free to show his strengths too as he won four tackles, with only Konate and Thomas Partey boasting more.
Meanwhile, it was from his more traditional position where Alexander-Arnold would set up Firmino’s equaliser as he nutmegged Zinchenko before lofting in a cross to Firmino at the far post.
Considering how much criticism and scrutiny he has faced this season, including in the previous days after being benched against Chelsea following his showing against Man City, this was the perfect response.
“We did that before, where we put Trent inside,” Klopp told reporters after the final whistle as he conceded his side still need to adapt to such a tactical tweak. “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.”
Whether Liverpool stick with such a system remains to be seen, but by trialling it against Arsenal, supporters finally witnessed what Alexander-Arnold in midfield could look like.
Granted, he still played right-back for the Reds in this hybrid role. And Klopp still stuck by his sharp message to Southgate two years earlier by playing his ‘best right-back in the world’ as a six.
It would be quite a backtrack of Klopp suddenly transformed Alexander-Arnold into an out-and-out midfielder, having stuck by him at right-back for so long. Yet, with the 24-year-old said crucial to an on-song Liverpool, it would appear the Reds have unlocked a new way to play to the defender’s strengths while covering for his weaknesses.
While a work in progress for now, of course, Liverpool at least have plenty of time to practise such a set-up in training in the weeks ahead. With no silverware to play for, their stakes have never been lower with their top four hopes now seemingly extinguished. As a result, what better time to trial something new as attentions already turn to next season.
“It’s not something I think about, to be honest, and it’s not my decision at the end of the day,” Alexander-Arnold said to the Liverpool matchday programme for this meeting with Arsenal, in an ironic twist of fate, when asked if he would like to revert back to midfield one day.
“So I don’t know, but if I’m told to play midfield then I’ll try to play there as well as I can. As of now I’m a right-back. I enjoy playing there and that’s where all my focus is.”
Yet despite popping up in midfield, Alexander-Arnold remains a right-back and that’s where his focus remains. But Klopp’s inverted experiment might have just enabled Liverpool to truly enjoy the best of both worlds when it comes to this long-standing best position debate.
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