HORROR YEAR TAUGHT ME SO MUCH

LIVERPOOL star Trent Alexander-arnold claims coming through his worst campaign last season is helping him this year.

The Anfield hero admits he suffered as the Reds trailed in fifth to miss out on the Champions League for the only time in a full season under Jurgen Klopp.

The Liverpool vicecaptain says he learned from that experience and that he was enjoying his best form ever before he was sidelined by a troublesome knee injury.

Alexander-arnold is now building up his match sharpness and told Gary Neville in Skybet’s The Overlap: “As a player, a team, a whole, we went through a rough season.

“When people have such high expectations of you individually and as a team, it’s hard to keep living up to them.

“It’s the hardest demand ever. The hardest thing to do in football is to be consistent.

“I just felt at the end of last season, I learned a lot from it, which is good, and that hsas helped me this season.

“I thought, ‘I’m not going through that again’ and I didn’t want to feel the same way as I felt at times. Likewise, as a team, I want to be winning a minimum of one trophy per season.”

Alexander-arnold says the dip came at a good time in his career because he was old enough to cope and young enough to know his peak years had still to come.

“It came at the right time,” he said. “If it came too early in my career, it would have dented my confidence and you would have started to question yourself, whereas that wasn’t the case.

“I understood what I’d achieved so far and was so proud of myself and how much work I’ve put in, but I also understood I’m not even halfway through my career.

“There’s so much more I can achieve.”