Welcome back to the Marginal Pains newsletter. It’s Sam again and, yes, I’m writing about Liverpool.
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Today, I’m going to be focusing on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s role for Liverpool.
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It isn’t an understatement to say the Liverpudlian right-back redefined how the full-back role is viewed. He’s genuinely a playmaker and, in possession, he occupies zones not too dissimilar to areas regularly associated with Kevin de Bruyne.
Throughout the 2018/19 and 2019/20 campaigns, Alexander-Arnold racked up 26 assists in the Premier League. The only other player to break to the 20 barrier was De Bruyne with 21. Jurgen Klopp and his coaching staff didn’t build their system around their full-backs, but they did shape make their No.66 and Andrew Robertson key to attacking patterns of play. The latter was a marauding full-back who wouldn’t look out of place in the 1990s, while the former was a new breed. He wanted the ball and the system allowed him to dictate proceedings for the Reds.
Because of his style, there’s always been talk that he should return to centre-midfield, the role he impressed in for the academy. However, the debate always centres around whether he wants to the best in the world at something or just a very good midfielder. It’s been topical recently with Liverpool enduring their worst run of form under Jurgen Klopp.
They’ve lacked creativity and with Alexander-Arnold playing a withdrawn role to aid the makeshift centre-back pairing, his influence going forward has waned. One suggestion was to shift him into centre-midfield, purely to try something different.
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I’ve always been of the opinion that moving him into the centre of the pitch would be a bit of a waste when he’s so effective at what he does. Having said that, I’ve always had a slight worry that a shift in shape would nullify him. If Liverpool start to build in central areas, Alexander-Arnold would be wasted as a more traditional full-back.
Klopp sort of appeased everyone with his use of the England international against Sheffield United. He was given a hybrid role, along with a number of other players, and he seemed to thrive.
He played more as a right-sided midfielder who would drop back into defence when Liverpool had possession in deep areas.
In the still above, he’s taken up a position that Jordan Henderson would usually fill when he was deployed on the right side of the midfield. Usually, Alexander-Arnold would be much higher and really wide.
In this new system, Mohamed Salah was responsible for keeping the width on the right and this opened up space for the 22-year-old to play as a central midfielder. The Reds shifted where their attacks would originate from and Sheffield United struggled to get to grips with it. Everyone focused on the new-look front five, but it was Alexander-Arnold’s role that might’ve been the most interesting on the night.
He finished the match with six shot involvements. He also attempted 47 forward passes, the most he’s managed this season and 60% of the ten passes into the penalty area found a team-mate. For context, his average for the 2020/21 campaign is six attempted and 43% completed. He was more progressive and more incisive. A good example of this can be seen below.
The right-back is in possession and, usually, he’s a little wider. His first thought tends to be a ball down the line to Salah. If that isn’t on, he’ll look for a switch to Robertson before finally playing a simple pass to either the centre-back or the centre-midfielder.
His thought process was different at Bramall Lane. With one pass into Mane, Alexander-Arnold helped Liverpool bypass the host’s midfield. It also got the visitors into a five on five situation. It’s a simple pass, but a really effective one. It’s also one he’d unlikely be in a position to play if it wasn’t for the tweak to the system.
If this is a long-term plan for Klopp, Alexander-Arnold will likely switch assists for hockey assists (the pass before the assist). He’ll be just as creative, but his headline numbers will drop. However, the front four will all see their creative numbers increase, with Liverpool now creating chances from central parts of the pitch.
The scramble to get the West Derby-born full-back into midfield will always be there, but if Klopp keeps reinventing the role of his right-back, Alexander-Arnold can continue to stake his claim for being the best in the world at what he does.
Super read, thanks Sam/Marginal Pains