Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has said the criticism Trent Alexander-Arnold has faced following his disappointing performance against Manchester United last week is a “compliment” of his quality and “everyone has an opinion” on the defender.
Alexander-Arnold, who is out of contract at the end of the season, has come under scrutiny this week for his lacklustre display in the 2-2 draw with Ruben Amorim’s side. The 26-year-old was the subject of an approach by Real Madrid earlier this month, though the Spanish club’s advances were quickly rebuffed by Liverpool.
Alexander-Arnold made an impressive cameo off the bench in Liverpool’s narrow defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in midweek and caught the eye again as he captained his boyhood club to a 4-0 victory over Accrington Stanley in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday, scoring a stunning goal from the edge of the penalty area.
“I think the biggest compliment Trent could get was the reaction of everyone after the United game,” Slot said after the match. “Every player around the world, maybe except for a few, has bad games and that’s completely normal.
“The moment Trent has a bad game, everybody has an opinion about him. Maybe that is to do with the contract situation. I don’t know if that wasn’t there if everybody would have reacted in the same way.
“Maybe it’s the biggest compliment you can get if you’ve had such a great first half of the season and you don’t play a good game against United — and that was clear for me, for the fans, for all the analysts that saw the game. Many of them were quite hard on him and maybe that is the biggest compliment he can get.”
The Liverpool boss added: “I think it was good for him to play again in our home stadium, to feel the reception from the fans again, that was already fantastic when we played Tottenham.
“That was also special for him today. That will only help him and us because if you want to do special things in the season, we have to do it together, not only the players and the manager but also the fans.”
Slot also praised the performance of summer signing Federico Chiesa, who scored his first Liverpool goal against Accrington. However, the Dutchman was quick to stress that fans should not get “carried away,” with the forward still working to get up to speed with the pace of the Premier League.
“You want to score your first goal, especially in front of your own fans,” Slot said. “That’s what he did now so that’s a good next step. Let’s not get carried away too much because, although I liked the way Accrington Stanley played a lot, it is a League Two team. But it’s definitely a good next step for him to be available and even score a goal.”
