Former football manager Sam Allardyce targets Jurgen Klopp to criticize Liverpool vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold with a bad and false narrative

Sam Allardyce questioned Jurgen Klopp while criticizing the defending of Liverpool vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold, presenting a casual but wrong narrative. Allardyce called out Klopp for failing to improve Trent defensively while painting a wrong picture about the German’s Liverpool tenure.

Many British pundits and media have pushed a narrative that “Trent cannot defend” despite his Liverpool success as a right-back. Allardyce has now attempted to negate that success to push the defending agenda against Trent despite England’s trouble without him.

England lost the last game they played against Iceland 0-1 as Trent came on after the 64^th minute of the game. Before his substitution, England’s midfield suffered with the double-pivot of Kobbie Mainoo and Declan Rice behind the three attacking players.

Trent came on for Kyle Walker and created three key passes, won a ground duel, two interceptions and one tackle. In his short cameo, he provided more in both defensive and offensive phases than the media favourites in the team.

Allardice told the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast (via YouTube) that Trent never improved defensively under Klopp. He said:

“It is difficult to understand that Jurgen Klopp was at Liverpool for so long and we still haven’t seen his defending get any better. In the three-year period where Liverpool were winning the Premier League and Champions League he hardly ever had to defend, so that part of his game never really got exposed until they got a lot of injuries and started losing games. He got slaughtered for his defending.”

Under Klopp, Liverpool have always defended as a team and attacked as a team with fullbacks playing a key role. The attacking nature of Trent and Andy Robertson required midfielders to cover them in the defensive phases.

Trent struggled defensively when quality attackers with impressive dribbling skills took him on one-on-one.  Liverpool’s defensive struggle was magnified under Klopp only when the midfielders aged past their prime and a severe injury crisis happened.

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In many games, the Reds played midfielders as centre-backs which highlights the injury issues in a squad that lacked depth. Allardyce’s criticisms of Trent‘s defending are overly simplistic and neglect the full picture, as Trent’s attacking prowess often eclipses his good defensive skills.

However, it is understandable that Allardyce do not favour Trent given his knack for parking the bus and playing hoof balls as a manager. Allardyce has always played unremarkable football while focusing on heavy defending and hoof balls in attack. He failed to win any significant honours during his career, only preferred by teams focused on mere survival rather than trophies.