It was indicative of just how preoccupied the wider football community is with Trent Alexander-Arnold's supposed weaknesses that despite the Liverpool star's largely inactive World Cup so far, the subject was again broached this week.
The Reds' right-back has featured in just one of England's three games so far in Qatar, turning out for 33 minutes of normal time in Monday's 3-0 win against Wales, playing out the game in relative comfort as the Three Lions eased to victory against Rob Page's men.
Alexander-Arnold was not too troubled by the paucity of a Wales side who had already had the stuffing knocked out of them by the time the Liverpool man replaced Kyle Walker shortly before the hour mark, leaving him to knock the ball about at the sort of tempo that would normally be found in a training game.
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Yet still, the topic that everyone from Gary Neville to Franck Lebeouf - and even Brazil legend Cafu - has lined up to deliver their two cents on in recent months was once again the subject of conversation. Only this time, it was Alexander-Arnold himself who was getting to have his say.
"I think it's come to a point where it's the lazy opinion," Alexander-Arnold told talkSPORT in an interview that aired on Thursday. "It's the lazy thing to say. People who kind of just watch the game and see what they want to see, there's that prejudice I believe now.
"You see what you want to see at the end of the day. If you're going to a game and you have a perception that a player's lazy and you see him once not running then in your mind he's lazy. You don't see the rest of the game where they're running around, sprinting around.
"I suppose that's where I feel like I'm judged with people going to games or people watch me play football with a preconception of 'he's not a good defender' or 'he can't defend well' so when I do have that one mistake or that one time someone gets past me then that confirms what they think.
"At times it feels like it doesn't matter how well I do because if I'm not perfect in that respect, then it's not good enough and I'm held to standards that potentially other players aren't held to, but that's life. You've got to get on with it."
He continued: "Self-belief and confidence is a major part of football. The players who have that, they don't need that outside confirmation from the outside world and if they do need that reassurance then you've got world-class managers that are picking you week in and week out and managers that are picking for World Cups for all the reassurance you need.
"You've got world-class footballers who are sitting at home who didn't get chosen. So I think that's all you need to know. Out of the 26 of us, you're looking at the best 26 players in the country that the country has got to pick from and if that's not good enough in your mind, nothing ever will be."
It was the kind of response that revealed wisdom beyond the years of a player who only turned 24 in October, but the answer also gave a telling insight into the sort of character and mentality that has already helped make Alexander-Arnold a modern-day great at Anfield with the bulk of his career still to come.
The debate over Gareth Southgate's inability or unwillingness to get the best out of Liverpool 's No.66 will likely go on until the manager is no longer in charge of the national team, but it should come as no surprise by now to find Alexander-Arnold on substitutes' bench more often that not under the current Three Lions boss.
The merits over that decision will be discussed, as they already have been, ad infinitum but Southgate nailed his colours to the mast long ago where Alexander-Arnold is concerned.
It is no longer a surprise to see the 24-year-old waiting in the wings in England colours, regardless of anyone's personal opinion of the decision, including Jurgen Klopp's, who has made no secret of his disagreement with Southgate over the use of his Champions League and Premier League-winning defender.
All the player himself can do is show in the limited time he will be given just why he is so revered on Merseyside. And, in the meantime, continue to offer the kind of measured and intelligent replies to what he must feel is one of the most tedious topics going where his England career is concerned.
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