Trent Alexander-Arnold: Modifying to a Midfield Maestro?
Alexander-Arnold’s new hybrid role creates chaos in attack, but does it cover his defence?
Five games, six assists, Liverpool’s academy Scouser is dictating play and delivering damage to opposition defences.
The Liverpool full-back has found a new lease of life drifting into midfield playing a revamped deep-lying playmaker role in recent weeks with his defensive duties sacrificed.
In the past, he has shifted infield because he has been enjoying more of a free role, relying on his own initiative.
The difference during this period was it was a strategic game plan.
When Liverpool manage to maintain possession and begin to play on the front foot, Alexander-Arnold is in his element.
It provided him with freedom becoming as influential from the middle as he was when out wide, close to the box.
Becoming the orchestrator of offence and adding an extra dimension to his sides midfield providing more assists in the past five games than in his previous 38 top-flight matches combined.
Tactical Trends:
The 3–2–5 in-possession system, with a full-back moving infield alongside a defensive midfielder, is becoming common in the game.
A Pep Guardiola creation to stop counter-attacks, the Manchester City boss had success previously with Philipp Lahm and David Alaba fulfilling the role at Bayern Munich.
In recent times he has used the likes of Joao Cancelo, John Stones and even teenager Rico Lewis as inverted full-backs at the Etihad.
Mikel Arteta, Guardiola’s former assistant at City, has executed a similar role with Oleksandr Zinchenko at Arsenal.
What effectively becomes a four-man midfield, also known as a box midfield, the formation is used to overload a three-player opposition midfield and to help dominate the centre of the pitch.
The aim is to provide organisation while unbalancing the opposition, creating angles and options to retain possession with short, quick passes, and then progress the ball up the pitch.
Strengths:
Alexander-Arnold new starting position has had two key advantages.
The first is that it has allowed him to stay high and pin the opposition wingers or full-backs towards their own goal.
If we needed reminding, Alexander-Arnold’s quarterback delivery for Liverpool’s equaliser against Arsenal showed how potent he can be when given the freedom to stay in advanced areas of the pitch.
The second is without the intensity on the ball and suffocating press the gaps between centre-backs and centre-back and full-back have become so wide it has become the case of not if, but when next will it be exploited.
This new system has managed to limit the number of counter-attacks particularly on the right channel putting a more defensively adept Konate in 1-on-1 duels as oppose to Alexander-Arnold.
Risks:
While Alexander-Arnold is, in terms of his technical ability, as gifted as Cancelo, Stones or Zinchenko, it is unlikely to suit Liverpool in the same way.
Firstly, both Arsenal and Manchester City deploy three nominal centre-halves (Arsenal — Gabriel, Saliba, White; City — Akanji, Ake, Dias) when their respective full-back inverts during their buildup phase.
Secondly, both squads have adequate personnel in the remaining midfield positions, in particular a defensive anchor (Arsenal — Partey; City — Rodri) and a box to box midfielder (Arsenal — Xhaka; City — Gündoğan).
Although Gündoğan and Rodri are elite midfielders, it is their defensive and offensive attributes and consistent execution of their role more than there individual talent which balances out the inverting full-back.
In Liverpool’s case bigger challenges lie ahead for Alexander-Arnold in his new hybrid role.
With injuries, a drained Fabinho finding no flow this season and Jordan Henderson and James Milner’s prime days as box to box midfielders a thing of the past.
The protection of the back line has simply been lacking from an unbalanced midfield.
The other risk is how much it asks of Andy Robertson and either Joël Matip or Ibrahima Konaté.
With Robertson a key weapon in Liverpool’s arsenal, their current assist leader is now forming part of the back three and is selective about when he darts forward and is overall less potent in offence.
Although he is not a centre-half by trade, he does have experience in the position for his national team in previous years.
With Konaté or Matip, they are now tasked with the role to swiftly shift as soon as Alexander-Arnold drops into central midfield.
But asking either defender to look after Marcus Rashford, Gabriel Martinelli or Vinicius Junior is a much harsher task, however, Konaté is comfortable as a front-foot centre-back.
Also, Alexander-Arnold is going to have to adapt to receiving the ball with his back to goal and learn to turn both ways.
He is still yet to be tasked with a serious opposition midfield and how he would cope against an intelligent pressing Brighton side or a magnificent Manchester City midfield remain a mystery.
Opportunities:
The formation and role on face value makes sense.
For a start, Pep Guardiola was inverting fullbacks to provide protection on the counterattack and it is where Liverpool have been struggling for a number of seasons now.
It could also benefit Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho who are more suited to playing as one of the two No 10s further forward (Arsenal — Ødegaard; City — De Bruyne) rather than as workhorse No 8’s required to cover behind the fullbacks.
If Liverpool can get the right players executing the right roles around the number 66, specifically; energetic and disciplined midfielders.
They too may be able to reap the rewards from English football’s latest tactical shift and take Alexander-Arnold’s game to the next level too.
The England international has certainly embraced the change of role that has helped trigger an upturn in Liverpool’s fortune and the switch has energised him after a difficult spell.
Put simply, it is an opportunity for Liverpool to capitalise on one of their most gifted players in their long history.
The trophies Liverpool won were through constant evolution on a game style grounded in an identity of intensity.
From counter pressing goals to a more controlled game built through the fullbacks.
Evolving as a result of opposition, loss of form or personnel change is natural in the game of football.
The regard in which Trent is held amongst the club, local and international fans signal he will not be leaving the football club anytime soon.
Jurgen Klopp built his first team around the attacking talents of Alexander-Arnold and it wouldn’t be the strangest idea for Klopp’s second rebuild to consist of the same priniciples.
It would mean diving into the transfer market to find adequate players to cover for Alexander-Arnold defensive deficiencies.
But at 24 there is still opportunity for him to develop as a player and it never quite felt like he would spend his whole career at right back.
Liverpool’s future might have just got a whole lot brighter.
