Both Danny Murphy and Darren Bent have suggested that Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold may have bulked up a bit too much in recent times.
The England international has been a hugely important player for Liverpool in the Jurgen Klopp era, but he’s been far from at his best this term, which, in fairness, has also been true of so much of this Reds squad.
Still, speaking on talkSPORT, both Murphy and Bent discussed Alexander-Arnold’s body shape, suggesting that he might have done a bit too much upper-body work in the gym which is slowing him down a bit.
While it makes sense for Alexander-Arnold to try to keep himself in good shape, it seems the pundits are aware that there are some risks with over-doing it in certain areas.
“My obvious answer and the only thing I can think is he probably needs taking out the firing line and a good session on fitness,” Murphy said.
“Maybe it’s too late this season now because they’re not getting in the top four anyway. But, I think whatever regime he’s going to do in the summer, it needs to be different because he needs to get back to his really sharp, fittest self.”
“I remember Gerard Houllier talking about it when I was with him at Aston Villa about players maybe doing too much weights and I get it, he looks fantastic,” Bent added.
“But when you look at him certainly a couple of years ago, he was a little bit slender. You know what it’s like Murph, if you continue to do the upper body weights, your mobility and willingness to turn a little bit can hinder you a little bit.
“I always look at Trent and think, with the football he’s still exceptional. His range of passing is still there, you don’t lose that. But his whole physique of getting around the pitch, getting sharp up to the attackers.
“One thing he used to do, even though his defensive responsibilities have been questioned for a little while now, he still used to get up against the wide man and at least make it look a little more difficult for him.
“But now he’s not even doing that, so he’s almost allowing the wide men to turn, run at him and then all of a sudden he’s struggling a little bit.
“So I definitely agree with Murph, the regime whatever he is doing, he needs to change it. Maybe less time in the gym lifting weights and maybe more time on the grass.”
It will be interesting to see if Alexander-Arnold looks into a new fitness regime in the months ahead as he could perhaps do with taking a look at what’s gone wrong for him this season.