[The Athletic] Why Alexander-Arnold is struggling: Fewer diagonals, less cover, poor crossing

The Liverpool of 2020-21 are clearly not on the level of Liverpool’s title-winning side last season, and if there’s one player whose struggles have encapsulated that, it is Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Having broken records for the most assists by a Premier League defender in the last two campaigns, Liverpool’s right-back has managed just two this time around. On Thursday evening, in Liverpool’s shock 1-0 home defeat against Burnley, he attempted 18 crosses, and none of them found a team-mate.

So what’s going wrong? Fatigue may play a part, certainly, as with all of Liverpool’s players. Alexander-Arnold was one of the players who had COVID-19 in the summer and an injury meant he missed the pre-season tour to Austria and the Community Shield. Speaking earlier this month, his manager Jurgen Klopp said: “There are explanations for (his form) this season if you want, but he had good games as well. He helped us a lot, absolutely. But the reason is, he started late, was out for a while with COVID and had an injury as well, so he had no pre-season.

“With the quality he has, and the situation we were in, he played pretty early. He’s now getting here; I think physically he is fine and now he has to find his top shape again, and that will happen sooner rather than later.”

It is not just fitness that has been holding him back, though. Alexander-Arnold has also, perhaps surprisingly, been the major victim of Liverpool’s lack of centre-backs, for various reasons…

Fewer long diagonals
Virgil van Dijk isn’t merely Liverpool’s best defender, he was — at least until the arrival of Thiago Alcantara — their best deep playmaker, too. His passing range from centre-back is extraordinary, and he’s capable of drifting passes over the top towards Sadio Mane or arrowing the ball across the pitch diagonally.

A common recipient of the latter passes was, of course, Alexander-Arnold. Liverpool’s ability to switch the play quickly meant their right-back often received the ball in space, and, with attackers sprinting into the box, ready to hit crosses on the run. Here’s an example from a defeat to Arsenal late last season — a booming Van Dijk pass…

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…prompts a lovely piece of control from Alexander-Arnold, who then crosses for Mohamed Salah, whose shot is saved.

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Here’s another example, from a victory over Bournemouth: Van Dijk is higher up the pitch, and his diagonal ball over the top allows Alexander-Arnold to break in behind the opposition’s defensive line…

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…and into a good position to fire the ball across goal. The low cross is cleared.

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Van Dijk’s absence is notable when looking at a statistical representation of the most common passes that Alexander-Arnold receives. This graphic groups together similar passes from last season, and places them in order of frequency. Most of them are roughly what you’d expect for a right-back, although pass group 38 (third along on the second row) is quite specific, and effectively demonstrates Van Dijk’s diagonal balls.

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Seven of those eight “pass groups” are also present on the equivalent graphic from this season. Which one is missing?

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Pass group 38, which has been replaced by the somewhat less alluring group 10, which shows him collecting square balls from fellow defenders. And that brings us on to the second change…

The defence has needed more protection
Klopp hasn’t just been without Van Dijk since mid-October, Liverpool have also had to cope with the absence of Joe Gomez since early November. He isn’t as accomplished a defender as Van Dijk, but Klopp depended on Gomez’s speed to get Liverpool out of difficult situations when being counter-attacked. That ability to cover allowed Alexander-Arnold to push forward.

This season, Alexander-Arnold’s positioning in some matches has been quite different to 2019-20. In the 0-0 draw with Manchester United last weekend, for example, he largely remained deep, often tucking inside to become, effectively, a third centre-back while Andrew Robertson bombed forward on the opposite flank. That was partly because of their respective individual opponents — Anthony Martial offered a counter-attacking threat down Liverpool’s right, and Paul Pogba was leaving space on the outside to be exploited. But the graphic below, typical of Liverpool’s play in the first half, shows that Alexander-Arnold wasn’t in a position to offer an attacking threat.

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A demonstration of his touches between last season and this season shows that he’s seeing the ball less towards the flank, but more in central areas.

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More specifically, another grouping of Alexander-Arnold’s pass types — this time those he’s played, rather than received — also tells an interesting story.

These aren’t Alexander-Arnold’s most common type of passes, but the ones that are most specific to him in comparison to other Premier League right-backs. And the most crucial thing is pass group 37 (far left on second row), which last season was only the fifth-most common pass that was specific to Alexander-Arnold…

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…but now has become the most common pass that is specific to him. Those type of narrow crosses are difficult to convert into clear goalscoring chances. Alexander-Arnold has the technical ability to succeed in these situations, but it hasn’t been a profitable approach this season.

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Henderson isn’t moving over to cover from midfield
With Klopp down to the bare bones in defence, he’s been forced to deploy central midfielders, such as Fabinho and Jordan Henderson, at the back. The issue hasn’t been their weakness in the back four, though — it’s that they’ve been missed further forward.

In particular, last season Henderson was very effective at drifting over from central midfield to guard the right of the pitch — which, in turn, would allow Alexander-Arnold forward. Here’s an example from an away win at Norwich City last year: Henderson drops back and to the right, receives a square pass from Van Dijk…

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…and then feeds the ball onto Alexander-Arnold, in oceans of space down the outside.

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This wasn’t simply valuable because it was a good way to service Alexander-Arnold, it also gave him extra freedom to advance, knowing Henderson was covering the zone he’d left behind. Liverpool’s right-centre midfielder in the last two games, Xherdan Shaqiri, is considerably less likely to operate in a solid covering role.

Fewer aerial targets in the box
The lack of natural centre-backs also means Alexander-Arnold has less to aim at in the box when it comes to delivering set pieces, which have been a key source of assists in recent years.

In 2018-19 and 2019-20, for example, the most frequent player who converted Alexander-Arnold’s assists was Mane, with six. In second place, though, wasn’t Salah or Roberto Firmino, but Van Dijk. In a 2-1 home victory over Brighton & Hove Albion last season, Van Dijk grabbed both goals, from two Alexander-Arnold deliveries — first a free kick from the right…

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…and then a corner from the left.

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It’s also worth pointing out that Alexander-Arnold delivered two assists for Joel Matip over the past couple of seasons, only one fewer than he did for Firmino and Salah, who both scored three times from his assists. The loss of both Van Dijk and Matip means that Liverpool are much less intimidating at set pieces, and Alexander-Arnold’s assists return has suffered accordingly.

Other sides DO have traditional centre-backs, and his crosses need to avoid them
Alexander-Arnold’s experience in Liverpool’s shock 1-0 defeat to Burnley on Thursday night was hugely frustrating. He attempted 18 crosses — the most he has ever tried in a Premier League game — and none found its intended target. In combination with Liverpool’s previous game, against Manchester United, it means Alexander-Arnold’s previous 27 crosses have failed to find a Liverpool player.

Burnley were very content to defend high balls into the box, and overall, Liverpool recorded a startlingly low cross completion percentage (7.5 per cent) — the lowest of all the teams who have faced Burnley so far this season.

Assessing Alexander-Arnold’s deliveries in more detail, meanwhile, shows an interesting pattern. In the first half, he played lots of classic balls into the mixer, which Burnley’s defenders headed away comfortably. For the second half, perhaps under instructions from his manager, Alexander-Arnold’s deliveries were very different. He pushed into more advanced positions rather than crossing from deep, and attempted more driven pull-backs, rather than floating the ball into the box.

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Those driven pull-backs are more difficult to complete, but the reward for them when successful is considerably higher. And while none of them was successful against Burnley, Alexander-Arnold’s 0 per cent cross-completion rate was partly a reflection of his determination to play high-risk, high-reward passes rather than floating gentle balls into the box, which might be met by a team-mate but aren’t likely to bring a goal.

Alexander-Arnold is at his best when driving into advanced positions and trying ambitious balls, and his current poor run is something of an anomaly. He must ensure he doesn’t become too tentative with his deliveries, or too cautious with his positioning. The absence of Liverpool’s first-choice centre-backs, though, will continue to be a problem.

 

Pretty much what I've been saying. I thought he put a few decent balls in on Sunday but it takes two to make an assist.

 

The absence of the regular CBs has made him more hesitant and conscious of the gap he leaves behind when he bombs forward. That has affected his accuracy. He put millions of crosses against Burnley and all were unsuccessful. The long cross field passes between him and Robertson very successful last season but rarer now as the team struggles and plays a more cautious game.
Once he and Robertson rediscover their past incredible understanding and play to their strengths we’ll have our usual dominance and a better chance to retain the title.

 

There were some encouraging signs vs United, and I hope Klopp does continue with this riskier style. Trent is a huge creative outlet for us.

 

Trouble tonight with Spurs. Son will murder us imo unless Hendo plays to cover

 

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This picture perfectly explains why we lost to Brighton imo.

Henderson is standing where TAA was v brighton.

If we look at TAA position. this is where salah.

So who was in field? nobody.

the other differenc eis the approach of norwich of course. we can wee a tight back 4 with the left full basically standing on top of the CB. YOu can see nobody picking up keita in the middle finally you can see nobody tracking taa. cantwell is miles away.

Brighton had a back 5. there was no such space.

that all said, it is clear to me to break down a deep lying defence TAA NEEDS to be in this sort of position. WHoever is in midfield NEEDS to be covering his position and passing to him and salah needs to be in a place to run in behind or support taa form infield.

None of this was happening v brighton.


Acknowledgements to jimmy for stealing these pics in the first place.

 

Agreed MITO - Trent is such a creative force and we need to get him involved more. We saw it vs Spurs and West Ham. And as you say, with Trent out wide, it means Salah gets closer or in the box - which is where we NEED him.

 

Yes.

Imo it is a matter of discipline in midfield.

Do I want milner running off where he likes wide and making runs into the box? No not me personally but klopp might be happy. Imo he has been the one showing most intent to make an impact but standing in place in line with the ball driving taa forward or robertson forward is far far more important.

Will wijnaldum cover a full back? Imo he doesnt like going out there. Hes played lcm with mane and robertson most and honestly mane does huge work.

Thiago certainly won't.

So this is the issue for me. Taa is hanging back knowing he's totally exposed by his team mates.

Klopp needs to be crystal clear. Full backs WILL BE high and wide. And he will be on the case of midfielders wandering off out of position.

Get salah closer to goal. Let firmino drift in the middle.

The press I want to see is 3 forwards plus 1 cm and the full backs up the park on wide men.

No way should anyone be able to pass out as easy as we saw v Brighton. It was shockingly easy.

 

TAA's form for his age, for 2 seasons in a row, is an anomaly.

Statistically the probability that this would happen is very high.

Now we're out of the running for the PL that might in fact ease some of the mental pressure side of things for a few months, which will only benefit him.

I would advise making sure he gets a long summer break at the end of this season, for mental recuperation not so much the physical

His rise at his age, and all the stuff that comes with that is also taxing.

He didn;t just "have one good season". TAA's class is permanent. I can't even grasp how much of a mental load on such a young man effects him. He's handled it in exemplary fashion. Even more pressure on him with VVD and the other injuries.

He's going to be a LFC legend