“Defending is not his forte”- Steve Nicol blames this player for Liverpool’s loss against Manchester United
Follow Us
Steve Nicol
Trent Alexander-“effort” Arnold’s to defend Jadon Sancho prior to Man United’s opening goal was criticised by Nicol, who also asserted that Liverpool’s backline is no longer able to protect the England international.
Sancho scored twice and Marcus Rashford scored once to give Erik ten Hag’s team the victory over Liverpool at Old Trafford. “We are not telling Klopp anything he doesn’t know,” Nicol told sources. “But what Klopp is doing is he’s basically saying to himself, “you know what we get so much from this kid [Alexander-Arnold] going forward that we are gonna have to take on the chin what he doesn’t have defensively”
“And that was okay when the other three were at their best. They made up for him [Alexander-Arnold]. But it’s every game now, there are problems down that side and they are finding it hard to cover for him now. Nobody has been able to cover for him. He can’t do it.
“I mean, you saw his attempt to try and deal with a one-two, there was not any commitment in it whatsoever. He jogged back into the middle of the park. Now had he sprinted into the penalty box, he might have actually got a challenge on Sancho, but he didn’t, he walked.
“Defending is not his forte. We know it, Klopp knows it, but Klopp is prepared to take the negative because of what he gets going forward.”
Mane left Anfield to join Bayern Munich this summer, and when asked if he would acknowledge that Liverpool was missing him, Nicol said “Because it’s a bad start, it’s because of Mane?
“Mane wasn’t playing center half was he? Or right back? Or center mid? If Mane was playing today, he wouldn’t have seen the ball either. He wouldn’t have got a kick either.”
Also Read: Real Sociedad’s Alexander Isak set to leave La Liga after a £70 million offer from Newcastle United
Why Liverpool struggled against Manchester United
Jurgen Klopp currently has very few options, but he still came up with one significant choice that, depending on your perspective, either raised eyebrows, generated a fuss, or was a gamble. Although Jordan Henderson has not been in great shape this season, he was chosen to play as the deepest midfielder over Fabinho, who has also not been at his best.
Given that the midfield as a whole was largely anonymous for 30 minutes, it cannot be argued to have worked in the slightest, but Henderson was undoubtedly bypassed frequently in those early minutes by through balls and increased host aggression. The skipper had an absolute horror for the second goal. Marcus Rashford went through to score after a terrible first touch, a missed tackle, another attempt at intercepting that failed, and a saunter back.
Do follow us onGoogle News |Facebook |Instagram |Twitter
Stay Updated!
Ujan Chakraborty
(1240 Articles Published)