Trent Alexander-Arnold played a key role in Liverpool's dominant 5-0 victory over West Ham on December 29, contributing a goal and helping secure a clean sheet with two successful tackles and three clearances on defense.
A mere 48ish hours later, Liverpool declined an approach from Real Madrid at the very start of the January transfer window to bring the right-back to Spain to begin the new year.
Despite his goal celebration against West Ham, which seemed to signal that he was tuning out the noise regarding a Madrid move, it may be growing too loud for him to ignore, as Alexander-Arnold had one of his worst outings in a Liverpool shirt in recent memory against perennial rivals Manchester United in a 2-2 draw at Anfield.
Call the possible distractions a coincidence, but on a day when Liverpool needed to stay focused on extending their point total lead over Arsenal after the Gunners' drew with Brighton on Saturday, the under-the-microscope Alexander-Arnold stood out as the most disappointing player in an otherwise underperforming squad.
There is no doubt that Trent had been putting it together defensively so far this season, which is often the most criticized aspect of his game.
Yet his defensive woes reared their ugly heads in United in a bad way, however. Alexander-Arnold was unable to execute a single tackle on the ball and finished the game with zero interceptions.
On United’s opening goal, both Trent and Ibrahima Konaté (who might warrant some symapthy as he works to regain full fitness after an injury layoff) were caught ball-watching, allowing Lisandro Martínez to punish them with a sensational finish off the bar and in.
Liverpool subsequently worked hard to take the lead through goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah, but Alejandro Garnacho exploited the flank covered by Konaté and Alexander-Arnold once again.
The Argentinian found Amad Diallo—who is developing quite a penchant for scoring crucial goals for United—in ample space inside the box to slot it past Alisson for the equalizer in the 80th minute.
Five minutes later, Arne Slot had seen enough, substituting Alexander-Arnold, typically a 90-minute player, for Conor Bradley, who has likewise missed time for the club with injury recently.
Fans have expressed confidence in the Northern Irishman’s abilities if he were to replace Trent at fullback upon a possible transfer to Madrid, and Bradley only bolstered this argument after his brief yet effective showing vs. United.
Within one minute of coming on, Bradley won a duel—something Trent had failed to do all game—and sliced past Bruno Fernandes to deliver a dangerous ball which was parried away by André Onana for a corner kick just before the start of extra time.
Trent’s well-documented offensive capabilities also felt like they were largely missing; he was lucky that one of his swerving crosses deflected off Matthjis de Ligt’s hand to earn Liverpool a penalty which Salah converted, the only contribution preventing Trent from dropping a complete dud.
Arne Slot, who has seemingly found the right thing to say to the media at every opportunity, delivered a more generous assessment of Trent’s evening compared to what most fans must be thinking, saying, “I would put it more on the performance of Dalot and Bruno Fernandes than it being down to Trent.”
It’s true that Fernandes in particular had a great showing for United, but given the fact the Red Devils had lost their last four consecutive games in all competitions heading into this clash, Trent should be doing much, much better.
A disappointing result can't be blamed on a single player, as there were plenty of other issues with Liverpool's performance.
But with the speculation about his future growing more intense, Trent must stay fully committed to his boyhood club as they desperately aim to recapture the Premier League title.