The shocking decline of Trent Alexander Arnold

lysglimt

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It's not unusual to see footballers having a very good season followed by a poor one - but to experience a fall in quality as severe as Trent Alexander Arnolds is unusual.

Last season he played 38 matches, scored 4 goals and had 13 assists. The season before that 1 goal and 12 assists in 29 matches.
This season in 16 matches he has had 2 assists and 0 goals playing for the team who has scored the most goals.

AWB who is often considered really poor going forward in comparison has 1 goal and 1 assist in 16 matches.

In addition - TAA has been at best poor defensively, and been at fault for 2-3 goals. His form over the last 3-4 weeks has gone from average to poor, and the player who was considered one of the best in the world in his position just 6 months ago, is now actually lucky he still has a place in the Liverpool-side.

If anyone is trying to convince me that Jurgen Klopp isn't a bit concerned - I don't believe them for a second
 
Pretty ridiculous take. He's 22 years old and has been playing non-stop at the highest level for the last 2-3 years. He's allowed to be a little inconsistent.
 
So he’s having a off season. Where is the decline? If he carries on next season then yeah Liverpool fans should be worried.
 
He’ll still end up with most Goals/Assists in league for RB’s
 
Liverpool were massively powered by motivation. That naturally declines and their players won’t look quite so amazing. Could see it coming from a mile off.
 
He was strongest when he had the best CB in the world next to him/a central midfield set up to cover their wb's forward runs. He's now playing in a system that has neither of these. Bound to drop off.
 
This is one of the reasons assists are a poor barometer.

what is the reason for his stats being poor is that Firminho keeps missing sitters?

he’s not played as well as previously, but as another poster pointed out - he’s a young player, and it’s the strangest season. Players go through periods of poor form, perfectly normal, as with all young players he probably needs a couple of games out of the team.

I’m not his biggest fan, and defensively he’s poor.
but it’s not a “shocking decline”. Liverpool are generally in poor form attacking wise, so you would expect any attacking player on that team to have worse stats.
 
His standard & Liverpool's for that matter was quite ridiculous so a certain drop off was inevitable. Defensively he's never been ideal & with Liverpool's goals drying up & him being a main outlet he is bound to look worse off as a player.
 
If he gets another assist in the next match will we have another thread named 'The unbelievable rebirth of Trent Alexander Arnold"?

The drama.
 
I would be a lot happier ripping the piss out of the “shocking decline” of Liverpool’s English prodigy if we didn’t have concerns about a player with a similar profile at Manchester United.

We’ve seen this sort of thing loads of time before. Young phenoms (hate myself for using that word) can have very bad seasons before getting back on track again. It happens.
 
Playing a completely different system.

This is a little dramatic.
 
The “shocking decline” will be followed by the “astonishing rebirth” when he hits a bit of form will it? Stop being so OTT.
 
The reactionary nature of Redcafe strikes again. A simple drop in form does not equate to a decline.
 
He's also had to deal with corona and a calf injury this season. He's only been "really" poor since returning from that injury. Assists might also be impacted by the fact that none of our forwards can find the back of the net lately.

Dip of form by a young player who's played at a ridiculously high level for two/three seasons in a row, nothing to see here.
 
VeevaVee said:
Liverpool were massively powered by motivation. That naturally declines and their players won’t look quite so amazing. Could see it coming from a mile off.
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The ultimate try hards/game raisers.
 
Its not unusual for teams to struggle the year after winning the title/a successful season. Motivation is a massive thing in sports, and why Sir Alex's dominance is so incredible. He won, year after year. For 20 years. City have been great this past decade. But only with Pep in 2017/18 and 18/19 managed back to back wins. Chelsea with Mourinho were the only other club who managed to defend their title, and they did it once.

So its not a surprise to see Liverpool as a whole struggle this year. Its a very hard thing to do to sustain success, especially as luck always goes into it when you do win and then having to overcome the bad luck that will inevitably come (Van Dijk's injury).
 
Its typical of Klopp football. Players peak for a couple of seasons then decline. Look at Wijnaldum. 9 assists in his first season. Then 2 the next. 0 assists in the last 3 seasons.

Its no coincidence he didnt even try to sign any of his Dortmund players.
 
Drama aside, I do think he will be blunted in the future if Liverpool really want Thiago to run the game.

At the moment, Robertson and TAA still pick their most dangerous passes from the back and that responsibility will have to shift to Thiago at some point.
 
There's nothing particularly shocking about it, just as there's nothing shocking about Greenwood's struggles this season. It's something that happens with young players sometimes.

In TAA's case it also coincides with him being part of a back four who have lost key personnel through injury, having had his own start to the season be disrupted by injury and being part of a team that has generally taken a step back this season. Hard for a young player to maintain that extremely high level of form when the rest of the team hasn't.

As for the defensive side of his game not being on point, that was hardly one of his outstanding qualities even in his best form. TAA making defensive errors isn't even mildly surprising, let alone shocking.
 
I think it's fair to say that over the last 2 seasons they've had the majority of their first XI producing world class performances. They didn't have depth and now that they are having to shift people into different positions, it affects the whole collective. To single out TAA is a bit strange, because Salah, Mane and Firmino have all been below par.

Out of their best players, the only two that consistently impress me are Robertson and Fabinho, most of the rest require that equilibrium.
 
He's definitely struggling this year but in fairness he's had Covid, which has impacted the performances of players to different extents, plus the injuries they've had at centre back has likely affected a full back most as they're having to think more about the consequences of being caught up the field than they would if Van Dijk was fit (admittedly Robertson's numbers have stayed more consistent). Add in the natural drop off after winning the league and the fact young players do have blips and I think the decline this season is anything but shocking and I'm sure he will get back to his best again soon enough.
 
The poster could well be ahead of the curve. Alli is a prime example of a young player lauded for his stats only to dip after a couple of seasons.
 
adexkola said:
He's not been good for England?
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Not really. He played one amazing game vs Switzerland in the Nations League 3rd place play-off where it was like having prime Beckham on the right but aside from that he's been poor to mediocre.

Siorac said:
Who is ever good for England, really?
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Quite a few are really. Often it doesn't marry with club reputation. Pickford has been generally been very good for England sinces he's been number one. Welbeck and Crouch were also weirdly good for England. I think Welbeck's career best performances were for England.

Out of the current big names Kane is most consistent. Sterling had a good run recently too but he's regressed. Rashford is generally very solid.

I'd put Trent in the Sancho bracket currently, in being hugely disappointing for England relative to their club form.
 
'Shocking decline'. Anyone know if The Sun are looking for writers?

He's 22 and his numbers were unreal for his position. It is only natural that:

1. His form might dip as he is still young.
2. His numbers averaged out.
3. The intensity of/amount of games he has played would catch up to him.
 
I think you explained it in your first sentence before the hyphen. He had a couple of very good seasons, now he's not looking as sharp. As you say - it's not unusual. Though, to be fair, neither are Liverpool as a whole. Their attack isn't firing either.

I'd say we're experiencing similar with Greenwood. It's not a big deal. I am certain both players will continue to get better even if right now they don't close close to their best form. Both are far too talented to just drop off.
 
Classical Mechanic said:
Often it doesn't marry with club reputation.
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Yeah, that's what I was getting at: most England stars never seem to be anywhere near as good as they are for their clubs. Scholes, Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Sterling, and possibly more that I can't think of.
 
bosnian_red said:
Its not unusual for teams to struggle the year after winning the title/a successful season. Motivation is a massive thing in sports, and why Sir Alex's dominance is so incredible. He won, year after year. For 20 years. City have been great this past decade. But only with Pep in 2017/18 and 18/19 managed back to back wins. Chelsea with Mourinho were the only other club who managed to defend their title, and they did it once.

So its not a surprise to see Liverpool as a whole struggle this year. Its a very hard thing to do to sustain success, especially as luck always goes into it when you do win and then having to overcome the bad luck that will inevitably come (Van Dijk's injury).
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Great point about Fergie. Amazing thing to sustain that level of performance every year.
 
Awful thread, he's not even having that bad a season - Liverpool are just nowhere near as good as a whole. Mane's stats are down from last year, is he now crap as well?
 
Its clearly a loss of form. And anyone talking about him still ending up with the most assists and goals from RB is missing the point. He's the weakest RB defensively so he needs to put out right midfielder numbers because thats essentially what he is for Liverpool.
 
Terrible, terrible lack of insight into football.
 
I don't think he has declined at all, it's just poor form that even players at peak go through. Also it's very high standards to contribute around 15 goals in league, so he might not reach that but will always be one of the most productive FBs in the league.
 
I would go so far as to say the team as a whole hasn't been on par him included. He is young and it's not really a normal season so let's at least give him a break on that.
 
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