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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Darren Bent has described Trent Alexander-Arnold as one of the best right-backs around.
What did he say?
Alexander-Arnold caught the eye of the former striker with his display for England against Kosovo on Tuesday night, and Bent suggests that both him and Kieran Trippier are very good right-back options for Gareth Southgate.
As well as those two, Kyle Walker and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are also candidates for the national team role, but Bent points to the Liverpool full-back’s all-round game as a factor which makes him so impressive.
The 20-year-old has a growing reputation as an attacking threat for the Reds, registering an impressive 12 Premier League assists last year, but he has so far been unable to reproduce that for Southgate’s side.
Despite that, Bent told Football Insider that his ability on the ball makes him stand out, and also highlighted the defensive side of his game:
“On the ball, he’s very, very good, technically he’s very good. Him and Kieran Trippier are technically the best right-backs out there, probably.
“What I really like about him is his defensive positioning, he never seems to get caught out. It was a very good performance from his as well.”
Complete package?
Bent may have been impressed with Alexander-Arnold’s performance on Tuesday, but the fact he was completely out of position for Kosovo’s second goal suggests that he needs to work on his defensive positioning, as well as his crossing as we highlighted earlier this week.
It is not an aspect of his game which he often has to worry about due to Liverpool’s dominance of the ball, and he can rely on the hard-working Jordan Henderson or the experienced Joel Matip to help him out.
Although he has impressed going forward, there are times where he has been caught out defensively. One such example was Alexander-Arnold’s poor positioning in a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford in 2018, which resulted in Marcus Rashford being allowed too much space before striking the opening goal.
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Jurgen Klopp appears to have the same worries about the defensive side of his game, leaving him out of Liverpool’s trip to Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final, opting instead for Joe Gomez.
As a result, the youngster will need to improve defensively if he is to become the complete full-back Bent suggests he is, particularly if he wants to cement a place in the England team for Euro 2020.
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