Trent Alexander-Arnold Is Now A Midfielder

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s performance in midfield for England against Malta last week was the result of months of work and adaptation to a role that could see him appear more regularly for his national team.

The Liverpool right-back played a hybrid role for his club towards the end of the season that saw him take up a position in midfield when his side was in possession.

The same skillset that made Alexander-Arnold one of the most creative, most dangerous right-backs in world football, has served him well in this position.

If required he could now ditch the right-back part of his role at Liverpool altogether, and play solely as a midfielder as he once did as a youth player.

The question is whether Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp would want to utilise him in this way, as Southgate does.

Murmurs of defensive weaknesses always surround attacking full-backs, especially those who are asked to so completely abandon their place in the defensive line as Alexander-Arnold often has been when playing the generic full-back role.

They can’t be in two places at once, but on the occasions when they miraculously manage to be, defending one-on-one in isolation, out in the wide positions where the opposition’s trickiest, quickest and most skilful players reside, is one of the most difficult tasks on the defensive side of the game.

Alexander-Arnold has suffered as a result of Liverpool’s decline, and specifically the decline of their midfield.

A lack of defensive mobility and wise defensive positioning from those in central areas for Liverpool this season has had knock-on effects on the rest of the team.

This has seen defenders have more of that potentially perilous one-on-one defending to do, covering large spaces between themselves and the goalkeeper with little help.

Once opposition attackers have found themselves in these positions, they are well set and ready to go having not faced much resistance on their way there.

Even the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté—two of the best one-on-one defenders around—have struggled at times, though the latter was increasingly impressive in the role he was asked to do towards the end of the season covering for Alexander-Arnold’s midfield forays.

It was one of the ways Klopp and his coaching team tried to add more security in a midfield that was obviously failing and unlikely to improve without adding new personnel.

The club and its owners Fenway Sports Group had failed to sign a midfielder in the previous two transfer windows, overlooking a key area where the team so obviously needed strengthening.

Aside from the lack of movement from the club in the transfer market, Klopp seemed happy enough to stick with the likes of Jordan Henderson, Thiago, Fabinho, Naby Keita, James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlian for at least another season anyway.

The problem was, many of these players were either potentially on the decline or prone to injury. As it turned out, the injury-prone players suffered injuries and those who might decline, declined.

On the back of this, Liverpool themselves declined. Having gone from a side challenging for all four major trophies on offer in the 2021/22 season, they didn’t even finish in the Premier
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League’s Champions League qualification spots in 2023, and were knocked out in both domestic cup competitions in the fourth round.

In the end, Klopp turned to Alexander-Arnold to offer something new in the middle of the park, drifting inside from his defensive position at right-back to become a central midfielder when Liverpool had the ball.

He impressed in the role, offering the creativity, crossing ability, and eye for all types of passes he does from right-back, but in numerous positions rather than just from out wide.

It is not as easy a transition as Alexander-Arnold has made it look. Going from defensive or wide areas where there is more time on the ball and most of the field in view, to a position where some of the game is happening behind you and opposition players provide more pressure, can see such experiments fail before they even have a chance to get going.

But Alexander-Arnold, similarly to his compatriot John Stones at Manchester City, has adapted well and proven he can cope with the extra pressure and additional technical requirements.

There was still a problem at right-back though. Konate covered well, using his pace and positional awareness to snuff out some opposition attacks in the area Alexander-Arnold vacated, and the rest of the defence formed what was almost a back three on those occasions, but teams still targeted that area of the pitch, often with some joy.

The departures of Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Keita at the end of last season allow for a midfield rebuild of sorts. Alexis Mac Allister has already arrived from Brighton & Hove Albion, while the club continue to work on deals for Khéphren Thuram and Manu Koné.

There is an argument to say Alexander-Arnold should be part of the midfield rebuild, rather than returning to his position as a right-back and abandoning the hybrid right-back/midfielder role, even though it served a purpose towards the end of the 2022/23 season.

The experience Alexander-Arnold gained in midfield for Liverpool in the 2022/23 season has seen England manager Gareth Southgate return to this as an option for his England side. He rarely found a place for Alexander-Arnold the right-back, but could more easily find one for Alexander-Arnold the central midfielder.

He impressed against Malta, who aren’t the most testing of opponents, but there is still something to be said for playing well against such a setup.

As Liverpool continue their pursuit of midfielders from across Europe and beyond, maybe they should also be looking for a right-back, thus allowing Alexander-Arnold to move into midfield full-time.

It has reached the point where this is no longer an experiment, and Alexander-Arnold can be considered a realistic midfield option for club and country.