Trent Alexander-Arnold’s commitment has been called into question in recent days, with Arn Slott once again being drawn in to protect his vice-captain.
The fallout from Sunday’s performance has not diminished over time, with Alexander-Arnold’s lackluster attitude difficult for supporters to get over.
He was responsible for the two goals conceded against Man United, but Slott defended No. 66 after the game, insisting he was mentally stable.
With the League Cup semi-final on Wednesday and Real Madrid speculation going nowhere, Slott could not avoid further questions about the right-back in Tuesday’s press conference.
When asked how Alexander-Arnold is doing in the midst of intense scrutiny and whether he is sure he is immune, Slott tactfully replied: I answered.
“Not only Trent but everyone was disappointed in the way we played.First of all, regarding the result, there were parts that we were satisfied with and parts that we were dissatisfied with.
“It wasn’t just Trent, there were a lot more things in the game that could have been done better.
“Trent didn’t play his best game, I already said it, but it’s not the first time in his life that he didn’t play his best game in his career.
“He has played well in so many games for this club. Now it wasn’t his best, like the others, it wasn’t their best either.
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“We just accept it and start training again today because the players know that if you play 50 or 60 games in a season, sometimes you won’t be able to perform at your best.
“Maybe we should emphasize more how amazing it is that these players can play such good games every three days.
“Apart from the fact that the game may not have been the best, it was still an eventful game for Liverpool.
“Every game we played over the last six months, or even longer when Jurgen was here, I said, ‘What a game again’, ‘I can’t believe the last 10 minutes both teams played their full game to win. I received a lot of text messages saying, “No.”
“That’s part of our job, to make it an eventful game and that’s what we try to do every game, but in the end most of the wins were won, but winning wasn’t enough, but it was a great game. It was an interesting match.”
“We have to show them what they can improve on.”
The questions didn’t stop there, with Slott asking whether a visit to Tottenham immediately after Sunday would be of benefit to Alexander-Arnold.
He said: “I think the disappointing result was a positive for all the players, but we wanted to win that game.
“So every player will want to play again two days later. But the players who are not on the pitch want to play as well. That’s good, they all want to play.
“Almost everyone is healthy, which is pretty special even at this point in the season. And I want to emphasize even more that these guys show up every three days.”
Regarding his discussions with his vice-captain, Slott added: “It’s normal to talk to players. It wasn’t his best game in this situation so I had to show him that he has to improve.”
“That’s what we do after every game. Sometimes we show how well they did, mainly in terms of work rate. I mean, you don’t have to say their great 80-yard pass because they know. there is no.
“And sometimes you have to show them what they can improve on, but I don’t just do this for Trent.
“We were just talking about Macca, and if you look at the second goal conceded, if he sprints a little harder, he can cut Diallo’s shot as well. There’s always things that can be improved.”
