Liverpool go into tonight’s game against Newcastle in scintillating form, nine points clear at the top of the Premier League after running Real Madrid and Manchester City off the pitch in the space of four days.
One of the key aspects of last week was the depth that Liverpool are able to draw on to get the job done.
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Against Madrid, Conor Bradley put on a devastating display that left Kylian Mbappe reeling. After his injury, Trent Alexander-Arnold returned to the lineup to terrorise City’s back line with his trademark long passes, one of which led directly to the opening goal.
Alexander-Arnold’s performance on Sunday in particular was narrative breaking, not just for showcasing that Liverpool aren’t by any means ‘better without him’ but also being the best example yet of his development as a defender.
Matheus Nunes didn’t have a sniff against him in the first half, and whilst Jeremy Doku is a difficult matchup for anyone, not much came of his battles against Liverpool’s right-back.
Which makes it all the more absurd that Newcastle United seem to think Anthony Gordon will be able to exploit his matchup with Trent tonight.
The Daily Mail’s Craig Hope writes that, despite Newcastle’s mismatched squad building that has seen Gordon deployed on the right multiple times this season, “the expectation is he will be back on the left against Liverpool, especially given the feeling he has the measure of Alexander-Arnold.”
We don’t know when teams will learn their lesson on this but we are happy for them to keep making the same mistake.
Liverpool's Alexander-Arnold should not be played with
Alexander-Arnold is currently averaging a career-high 3.37 tackles per-90 at a win rate of 55%, which he hasn’t achieved since the 2020-21 season.
The right-back has previously discussed how Arne Slot’s methods were different to anything he’d experienced in his career so far, and how he had set a goal to be the defender that ‘no one wants to come up against’ in Europe.
And whilst his reputation hasn’t yet reached that point, he is quickly becoming the defender that no one in Europe can get past.
Anthony Gordon, to his credit, is a great player. Liverpool were actively hunting for him in the summer for a reason, because he is a dynamic attacker (and, importantly, Scouse).
But Liverpool don’t need to fear him tonight. If Newcastle think their way to breach Liverpool’s back line goes via Trent, then we are happy for them to keep making the same mistake other teams do.
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