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18th January 2024
05:24pm GMT
Roy Keane disagreed with Jamie Carragher and Ian Wright over their choice of 'Player of the Year' in the Premier League so far this season.
The question was asked by Gary Neville on the latest episode of the Stick to Football podcast, and although Jill Scott thought that the accolade should belong to Arsenal's Declan Rice, the other panelists were in agreement that it should be a Liverpool star.
Trent Alexander Arnold was who the former Reds' defender suggested and was backed up by Wright, as the right back has been enjoying a brilliant season so far, taking on extra responsibility since being made vice captain last summer.
The versatile defender has been creating chances, getting assists and is also a part of the best defence in the PL so far in this campaign, so you imagine he has ticked every box to be in the conversation, but Keane thought otherwise.
"I can't believe how bad [Trent Alexander-Arnold] is at defending. For a guy that’s played a lot of games in defence, it’s like he’s never played the position before.
"How bad he is at defending, it’s amazing when people just run past him."
This has been a question mark over the Englishman's entire career, despite being a part of a back four that has seen his side reach over 90 points in the league on three occasions, and win every domestic trophy available to him.
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There is certainly a fascination when it comes to sharing clips of him being beat by wingers, but the Arsenal legend on the panel was quick to jump to his defence and refuted Keane's claims.
"It's such a redundant argument," Wright said. "For people saying players run past him, he's not playing that role now. He is a creator now."
This is the argument that Jurgen Klopp often makes, insisting that the position occupied by Trent on his team is almost unique to him, and his responsibilities are different from that of a traditional full back.
However, the Liverpudlian will probably never shake that tag as every mistake he makes will be highlighted and dissected, and there's no doubt that opposition teams try to exploit that, but as long as he delivers on the positive side of his game, then he will always be a vital player to Klopp's teams.
