John Barnes does not believe the tactical switch of moving Trent Alexander-Arnold into a hybrid midfield role is worth persisting with for the long term.
In a difficult season for Liverpool in terms of consistency. the right-back has seemingly taken the brunt of criticism because of slack defensive play and his lack of confidence has been quickly identified by the opposition.
Alexander-Arnold has never been known as an outstanding defender in the true sense of the word, but he offers so much more to the team in another aspects, launching attacks from defence with pin-point passes and with his wonderful natural ability from set pieces.
There has been a long running talking point regarding the English international’s best position and if he will be better suited to a midfield role, a position which he played at his early days at the Liverpool academy.
Jurgen Klopp has previously been adamant that it would not happen on a full-time basis but with the manager knowing that a top-four position is something of a long shot, he has looked to try a few different things and see whether it could be worth keeping.
Since commencing his roaming role, the 24 year-old has produced five assists in just four games.
Klopp has not made any lasting judgements yet and maintains it’s not too different to his customary position.
“He’s a smart player but it’s about how we set it up around him in moments when we lose the ball, different formations.
“ It’s not the solution for all the football problems this year but he has the potential to play there, that’s clear.
“It’s absolutely fine, we’ll see where it leads to.”
But one person who is not sold on the idea is John Barnes who feels the right back role is where he should remain.
Metro (via BonusCodeBets) reported the club legend as saying:
“In my opinion, Trent’s number of assists will increase if he is playing as a right back because of his crosses.
“A lot of his assists are coming from the right back position like [against] Arsenal, so it’s not that he is getting more assists because he is playing as a midfielder now.
“He is very creative in terms of his crosses and passes but I don’t agree with the fact that he is creating more chances from a midfield position but because of his qualities on the ball, he will create chances no matter what position he is playing.
Barnes also said deeper analysis is required when you look into the true definition of an assist.
“We need to talk about what an assist is. He passed the ball to [Cody] Gakpo [against West Ham] and he turned and did all the work to get a goal so sometimes an assist can be quite easy to get.
"Trent played well but we have to ask ourselves the question if he is creating more chances from his position in the midfield? I don’t think he is. He is a good midfielder but he creates more chances with his crosses from the right back position.
"I think Liverpool missed him at the right back position. They will benefit more from him playing there than in the midfield even though he did well.”
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