A look at how the national media reacted to Liverpool's 2-2 draw with Arsenal in the Premier League as Trent Alexander-Arnold comes under fire from Reds supporters
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Trent Alexander-Arnold plays during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield in Liverpool, England, on May 11, 2025
(Image: News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
For the second successive week as Premier League champions, Liverpool dropped points to a London-based club, following up from a 3-1 defeat at Chelsea eight days ago by drawing 2-2 draw with Arsenal at Anfield on Sunday.
In what was an entertaining and ultimately meaningless game from the Reds' perspective, after Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz registered for the Reds, the Gunners fought back from two goals down to earn a point through Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino.
But that was not the big post-match talking point. The main debate centred around Trent Alexander-Arnold and the booing of large swathes of Liverpool fans as he made his second-half appearance from the substitutes' bench.
READ MORE: Liverpool transfer would benefit Conor Bradley as Arsenal truth exposed by two playersREAD MORE: What Liverpool scoreboard showed at full-time offered perfect reminder after Trent Alexander-Arnold melodrama
The ECHO, of course, was at Anfield to run the rule over proceedings and you can read our big-match verdict, player ratings, on-the-whistle analysis and a more considered, lengthier version. There's also the post-match reactions of Arne Slot and Mikel Arteta to also get stuck into.
Our colleagues from the national media were also on hand to provide their analysis of a strange old Anfield afternoon.
Paul Joyce, of The Times, writes: "As Trent Alexander-Arnold stood on the touchline waiting to enter the fray, he would have been braced for a reaction and expected there would be some dissent.
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"It had not been by coincidence that when he stepped forward in the 67th minute, an ode to Steven Gerrard, throaty recognition of the local lad who thumbed his nose to the suitors and stayed loyal to his boyhood club, was aired.
"Or that one more chant of Conor Bradley’s name was bellowed out after Liverpool’s future had made way for their soon-to-be past.
"Yet Alexander-Arnold could not have been prepared for what transpired next.
"Having spent eight years being feted by an adoring public, so now his every touch was booed by the disaffected masses. Initially, at least, before some, recognising the brutal nature of that treatment, sought to redress the balance and offer some belated support.
"Frankly, the response was unbecoming of Liverpool supporters regardless of the disappointment at Alexander-Arnold’s decision to quit the club in the summer, bound for Real Madrid on a free transfer."
Chris Bascombe, over on The Telegraph's pages, pens: "Trent Alexander-Arnold was made to feel like an unwanted guest at Liverpool’s title party as Arsenal completed an Anfield comeback to edge closer to Champions League qualification.
"While Mikel Arteta will savour the character of his team for retrieving a point from a two-goal deficit, it was the events following the 66th minute introduction of Liverpool’s outgoing vice-captain which left the deepest impression.
"Alexander-Arnold had suffered some modest jeers when his name was announced pre-match, and when warming up during the first half. The crescendo of boos when he took the field and took possession for the first time was loud and uncomfortable.
"Unsurprisingly as a previously upbeat atmosphere took a turn, Arsenal took advantage and equalised – Alexander-Arnold playing Mikel Merino onside to make it 2-2.
"It was an unprecedented show of discontent by the Kop for a player who seven days ago was still considered 'one of their own'. Evidently the words of the club anthem require the caveat that you will walk alone to Madrid."
The Independent's Rich Jolly writes: "For now, Slot said, emotions are mixed. Raw, too, even if, while it was only six days since Alexander-Arnold had announced his departure, he had told Slot in March, and it had long seemed apparent what his decision would be.
"His team-mates, like his manager, have been disappointed but supportive. Andy Robertson has been a brother in arms, a fellow full-back who has had a competition to get the most assists. 'He's an amazing player and an amazing person,' said the left-back.
"But it was an illustration of how they do feel. Some of the supporters may object to the way a potential £50m fee will elude them, even if a player who cost Liverpool nothing will leave for nothing. But that reaction is in part because he is the Liverpudlian who is rejecting Liverpool. And before the eventual applause, some at Anfield barracked the player they used to celebrate as 'the Scouser in the team'."
Jonathan Liew, of The Guardian, writes: "In a way, Alexander-Arnold’s treatment was in itself an indication of the triviality of the fixture. No way does the Kop go there if the title is still on the line.
"But then by the same token, nor does Alexander-Arnold. Why cast this entirely avoidable shadow over the last few games of the season? Why not simply wait until after the final game, take his garlands and flowers, surf the wave of ambiguity?
"Meanwhile, Arne Slot finds himself in a bind. Conor Bradley, warmly serenaded all game, is still not quite robust enough to last 90 minutes. So do you strengthen the team, even if you weaken the vibes in the process? Perhaps it was no surprise that Arsenal’s equaliser came in the weird lacuna that followed Alexander-Arnold’s introduction, with Anfield too gripped in its own palace intrigue to notice that Mikel Merino was unmarked in the area.
"And frankly, you have to rate it. The booing of Alexander-Arnold was unbelievably petty, unashamedly small-minded and deeply ungrateful, and these are all intended as compliments. Football fandom should be all these things, should be irrational, should be intensely subjective and wildly disproportionate.
"Stoke fans still boo Aaron Ramsey for breaking his leg against them 15 years ago. Sunderland and Coventry still hate each other because Jimmy Hill put a score on a scoreboard in 1977. There are no rules to this thing, and can you imagine if there were?
"Having grown up in Liverpool, a club and a city where the ties that bind are always a little more conditional and transactional than people like to admit, Alexander‑Arnold should have known what he was getting into. This is our thing. Our family. And in this family you are never half in and half out. In a way there was a sinister mafioso quality to this very public flogging: and let that be a warning to the rest of you."
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The Mirror's John Cross also touches on the Alexander-Arnold furore, writing: "Maybe Mikel Arteta was wrong to claim Arsenal were the best team in the Champions League, despite their exit to Paris Saint Germain. But perhaps Arsenal - who had gone through the humiliation of giving Liverpool a guard of honour - dug deep themselves in reaction to some of the barracking and they turned the game around.
"And Liverpool now also have the Trent Alexander-Arnold sideshow. There was a smattering of boos when his name was read out among the substitutes before kick off and the jeers were deafening when he came on after he confirmed his exit this week.
"What a sad departure for a homegrown player, a Scouse graduate from Liverpool’s academy and yet the fans chanted the name of his successor, Conor Bradley, with extra gusto just to make a point to Alexander-Arnold.
"That feels like a big shame and a sour ending but Liverpool fans are fiercely loyal - and expect the same in return."
The ECHO's verdict reads: "Even Roy Hodgson, during an ill-fated and gaffe-riddled few months in charge as manager, was only subjected to sarcasm from a fanbase who mockingly talked up his England job prospects during his lowest ebb on Merseyside.
"El-Hadji Diouf was an expensive flop who brought shame on the club with some of his antics and even the Senegal star was spared this sort of baying mob.
"The boos for Alexander-Arnold were, in that sense, so jarring, even allowing for his controversial decision to leave to join Real Madrid as a free agent.
"If his introduction was audible enough, his first touches were greeted even more vociferously and in the haze of confusion around it all, Arsenal profited, forcing their equaliser through Mikel Merino as everyone at Anfield still struggled to work out how to feel. Many who jeered will tell you they already know where they stand, at least.
"The stage was set for Alexander-Arnold to win it late on after Merino had been dismissed for a rash challenge on Diogo Jota when losing the ball on the edge of the box. The future Real Madrid man could only curl the free-kick wide, though, meaning match-goers were spared a truly surreal moment of deciding whether or not to actually celebrate.
"The hope now must be that the melodrama is put to bed. For those who feel the West Derby-born star has committed a cardinal sin by defecting to the Bernabeu, indifference, reluctant acceptance and even apathy must now replace the anger and frustration, if only for the sake of truly enjoying the end-of-season festivities that the scoreboard reminded us will be coming at full-time.
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"At the height of the speculation over Alexander-Arnold's future, there was a Premier League title to be won, so it would be a crying shame now if his decision to seek pastures new overshadows the fruits of that labour."