Klopp Talk: Trent Alexander-Arnold’s Struggles Talked Down

The 20 year-old has played a lot of football in the last 18 months.

Trent Alexander-Arnold has had himself a very busy 18 months, and as of late, the wear and tear of that time has begun to show a bit. In his pre-match press conference, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp downplayed Trent’s struggles of late.

“Trent is a very young boy still,” said the Reds manager. “He had two weeks off in the summer, that’s not a lot. It’s clear we try to have an eye constantly on him fitness-wise, not working with the group, stuff like that. We speak constantly but not about these things that were good or not good, it’s more general. Advice, information, whatever. So he’s actually in a good moment. He’s played a lot of football and he will play a lot of football. That’s good for him. Most important is that he can stay injury-free and everything will be fine.”

“These are normal things. Don’t point the finger too much, accept it.” Klopp continued, “It will not be the first time or the last time when something will not be 100% in his life but he is still an outstanding player for us, really important and so it’s all good. I’m lucky, I had only really good right-backs to be honest. Okay, at Mainz I had too many, because they played a good season then they were away! I had Lukasz Piszczek at Dortmund which was fantastic. In this age group, it’s quite exceptional.”

Trent, and Klopp, will look to make sure this relatively small dip in form is just that. Trent, who was called up to play for England next week, was battling fitness issues this week. Whether he starts against Fulham remains to be known.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com