“Basic, sound defending”- Gary Lineker jumps to the defence of Trent Alexander-Arnold after Liverpool win

Former Tottenham striker Gary Lineker backs Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold in the Reds’ 2-1 win over Spurs

It was a tough 2-1 win for Liverpool against Tottenham Hotspur in London. Mohamed Salah’s double in the first half put the Reds in the driving seat, and there were a few nervy moments after Harry Kane’s goal in the 70th minute.

However, the Reds held their nerve and got the result against a strong Antonio Conte side. One of the talking points of the game will be Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s performance. The Scouser was indeed solid for most of the game and denied Ryan Sessegnon a chance to run at goal inside the box in the 27th minute of the game.

Spurs’ call for a penalty was rightly ignored by the referee Andy Madley. He brushed off the players having a go at him for a few minutes after the incident. Former England striker Gary Lineker even put out a tweet supporting Trent, and said the passage of play was ‘basic, sound defending’.

A VAR replay to see for a foul also saw the verdict come Liverpool’s play. Interestingly, the referee did not call for a foul on a similar incident on Trent by Spurs’ winger Ivan Perisic just a few moments before this incident.

Moreover, the scouser also had the support of Ibrahima Konate in the game, who was probably Liverpool’s best player apart from Salah.

Trent has been subject to a lot of criticism over the last few months over his defensive skills, but a good solid game against a UCL-level team will do only good for the 24-year-old and his confidence.

Positive game for Trent

With Gareth Southgate yet to name his squad for the World Cup later this month in Qatar, Trent would hope that the Three Lions gaffer is keeping an eye out on his solid defending in the last few games which is probably something that has been the Scouser’s weakness over the last few years.

The only concern for Jurgen Klopp in context to Trent’s game is that his attacking output in terms of assists has come down by a notch this season. In the past couple of seasons, he has been regularly around the top players competing for the Premier League Playmaker Award.

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He is probably focusing more on the defensive aspect to get into the England World Cup squad but he has made no assists this season. Nevertheless, his chance creation is still up there with the best of the best and hopefully, the numbers will come as well.