Trent Alexander-Arnold’s shaky performance against Manchester United was affected by suggestions of a recent bid from Real Madrid, says Jamie Carragher.
The Liverpool right-back, having been heavily linked with Real this week, had a game to forget as United frustrated the Premier League leaders with a battling 2-2 display at Anfield on Super Sunday.
Alexander-Arnold, now in the final six months of his contract at his boyhood club, struggled to impose himself and was at fault for the visitors’ first goal.
“I thought he was really poor,” said Carragher. “The game couldn’t have gone much worse for him, there was always going to be focus on him.
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Highlights of the Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United
“I was expecting him to put in a performance he has put in so often where he dominates the game from right-back. He’s a playmaker. I felt Manchester United’s system would play into his hands, there’d be a lot of space to get his head up and put crosses in.
“I thought he’d be thinking about how everyone’s talking about him negatively, and that he’d put in a really big performance. He was poor defensively, but there was nothing going forward on the ball.
“Only he knows if the talk affected him, but the fact he was so poor in the first game after Real Madrid put a bid in tells me it must have affected him.”
Alexander-Arnold was eventually substituted – replaced by deputy right-back Conor Bradley – in the closing stages of the game and Gary Neville questioned whether what he called an “insulting” bid from Real had played its part.
“I think the bid from Real Madrid is bad timing for him,” Neville said.
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Liverpool manager Arne Slot said Alexander-Arnold’s performance against Manchester United wasn’t due to Real Madrid links
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, whether he’s going to leave Liverpool and go to Real Madrid or whether he’s not, but if you’ve got that going into a big game, you’re a local lad as well, that won’t be easy, the distractions of having all that noise.
“Real Madrid are a hell of an animal. I thought it was insulting, to be fair, from Real Madrid. They behave like that sometimes, they think they can get what they want.
Wednesday 8th January 7:00pm
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“Liverpool are a football club of immense stature. They’re never going to sell Trent Alexander-Arnold for £20m in January so you’re taking the mickey a little bit. I think that will have probably unnerved him this week.
“Some lads see Liverpool and Manchester United as part of their career. It’s brilliant and they love it but they want to explore.
“When I look at Trent, he looks like a lad that wants to go and explore Real Madrid. He wants to go and play in different parts of the world.”
Trent for Tranmere?
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Roy Keane wasn’t impressed with Alexander-Arnold’s first-half defending against Manchester United
Roy Keane suggested Alexander-Arnold should be moving to Tranmere rather than Real Madrid after criticising his “schoolboy defending” against Manchester United.
Analysing chances for Amad Diallo and Rasmus Hojlund following questionable defending, Keane said: “It’s too easy. We talk about how brilliant Trent is going forward, but Trent’s defending today – my goodness, it’s like schoolboy stuff.
“There’s talk about him going to Real Madrid, the way he’s defending he’s going to Tranmere Rovers after this. He’s got to do better.”
