Trent Alexander-Arnold must ‘LEARN’ from repeat mistakes and improve his ‘desire and mentality’, concerned Rio Ferdinand insists after his shaky display in Liverpool’s win at Newcastle
- Trent Alexander-Arnold struggled during Liverpool’s victory against Newcastle
- The full back’s costly mistake allowed Anthony Gordon to slot home the opener
- Would Mohamed Salah ‘do the dirty’ on Liverpool by leaving? And what about Man United ‘diving’?: Listen to It’s All Kicking Off, Mail Sport’s new podcast
Rio Ferdinand has admitted he is concerned with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s repeat mistakes at Liverpool and his failure to learn from them after the full back struggled during the dramatic comeback victory against Newcastle.
Alexander-Arnold’s costly error saw Jurgen Klopp’s side fall behind in the first half at St James’ Park, with his poor control seeing Mohamed Salah’s back pass squirm through to Anthony Gordon, who buried through Alisson’s legs.
The defender was also booked in the sixth minute of the showdown after being shoved in the back by the goalscorer and throwing the ball away in frustration.
He was perhaps fortunate to have escaped a sending-off shortly after, too, the 24-year-old having raced back to recover the ball and again clashed with Gordon, with an arm placed across the winger dragging him back and to the ground.
Gary Neville later insisted that Alexander-Arnold was fortunate not to have been dismissed and Ferdinand has now highlighted several ongoing issues in his game.
Trent Alexander-Arnold must improve on his repeat mistakes, Rio Ferdinand has insisted
The defender made a costly error in Liverpool’s dramatic comeback victory over Newcastle
A concerned Ferdinand believes that Alexander-Arnold is failing to learn from his slip-ups
Speaking on the latest episode of the Vibe with FIVE podcast, he said: ‘I’ve always said this about defenders. I think Harry Redknapp said this to me when I was really young, because I was a player a little bit like Trent.
‘I wanted to think about on the ball, and passing and moving, dribbling forward with the ball more. That was my priority when I was a young defender. All I thought about… forget defending, defending was second, third, fourth on my checklist.
‘He always used to say to me, “Rio, I don’t mind you making mistakes but if you make the same mistakes on a regular basis you’re not learning and you’re not going to get better.”
‘That’s my only criticism. My real criticism and worry for Trent is that he’s making mistakes defensively, especially in 1 v 1 situations, that he’s been making the last year or two, even before that. You need him to learn.
‘Gordon, he knew from before the game, the night before, head hit the pillow, he knew Gordon was going to be going at him 1 v 1 and wanted to isolate him and play him 1 v 1. That’s a challenge.’
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Alexander-Arnold was perhaps fortunate to have escaped a red card inside the first half
Jurgen Klopp would have been relieved after his side fought back superbly from behind
Casting his mind back to his own playing days, Ferdinand added that Alexander-Arnold requires work in several key areas, including his desire and mindset.
‘That’s like, especially in our day, I was going up against Arsenal and knew it was me against Thierry [Henry] or [Dennis] Bergkamp. Vida [Nemanja Vidic] would be going up against them as well,’ Ferdinand said.
‘We had to be 1 v 1 at some point in the game, most of the time. Same with Trent.
‘I don’t see that he’s going into the game going, “Right, I’m going to lock Gordon down.” Maybe it’s the way tactically that teams are set up in the games nowadays.
‘It’s about, “We have the ball so much and we try to take the ball off them and that’s the way we defend. We’re defending with the ball.”
‘But I don’t see that desire, that mentality, that thought process that goes, “Right, he is not taking the p*** out of me today.”‘
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