Jaap Stam has claimed that Premier League teams are targeting Trent Alexander-Arnold in games this season.
Alexander-Arnold has struggled at times for Liverpool this season, and he isn’t the guaranteed starter he once was. Jurgen Klopp has opted for James Milner or Joe Gomez in a right-back role at times, and his defensive vulnerability has been exposed when he has played this season.
Liverpool are yet to win a game away from home this season and have conceded a lot more goals than they usually would have at this stage of the season, and former Manchester United player Stam believes Alexander-Arnold has been targeted by opposition teams.
“Maybe oppositions are looking at them a lot more, in terms of ‘where are their weaknesses?’. You see a lot, when Alexander-Arnold plays, a lot of teams are playing on that side and taking advantage and creating opportunities, so they need to get things right to start competing for the Champions League spots,” said Stam, speaking to Match of the Day Extra, as relayed by HITC.
There’s no doubt that Alexander-Arnold is better going forward than he is defending, and many argue that his attacking play outweighs his defensive ability.
However, with Liverpool not dominating games like they used to, Alexander-Arnold is having to do more defending than he usually would, which has led to him being exposed on occasions.