Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has played down the impact he has had on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s work off the ball by insisting “he has been a good defender all his life”.
The England full-back, who has started all six matches in a defence which has conceded just two goals this season, spoke after the weekend win over Bournemouth about how he wanted Slot to help him change the perception of him as a player who could be defensively suspect.
But the new Reds boss said all he had done was try to make the 25-year-old more engaged when the team did not have the ball.
“It’s difficult for me to judge how it has been in the years before but the only thing I know is that we are talking here about a player that won the Champions League and won the league title,” said Slot, who looks set to rest Alexander-Arnold for the Carabao Cup tie at home to West Ham.
“He mentioned himself that winning the league is about defending, so it’s clear to me then that he has been a good defender all his life.
“But because he is so special with the ball, the main emphasis goes to him doing special things with the ball.
“I think with him it is not about if he is capable of doing things, it’s more can his concentration rate constantly be in 100 per cent focus, that’s what it’s more about with him.
“This is what we talk about a lot, that he has to stay active in every situation of the game, even if the ball is further away from him.
“But it’s not that we or I taught him to defend in the last three months.”
