KOP HERO & VILLANS
Trent answers his critics by playing ‘get out of jail’ card
IT WAS a pity Trent AlexanderArnold could not celebrate his unbridled joy with the Kop.
Imagine the noise, if you can. Local lad, suffering inconsistent form – cold-shouldered by Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate – drilling home an injury-time winner to bring his club their first home Premier League win since mid-December.
Six straight defeats, eight matches in total without a victory – and the rightback uses that sweet right foot to find the bottom corner from the edge of the area in front of that famous end.
And the England boss was there to witness it too. Oh yes, if you’re a Red, it’s enough to send shivers down the spine.
The noise would have been considerable.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp understood the narrative – but did not necessarily want to buy into it.
He said: “Trent is an outstanding player. He’s a wonderful player. We all agree about that – I think that – and Gareth Southgate does too.
“Gareth made a decision. I respect it, Trent respects it – there’s nothing to talk about. Gareth has to make tough decisions. I have to make tough decisions every day. And he has to make them too.
“Trent played an exceptional game at Arsenal and a top one this afternoon. That’s how football is. He doesn’t need to prove himself at this level constantly.
“As a young player, he needs to develop. By the way, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. We just don’t have to talk about it every week. We don’t have to justify his status.”
Klopp deserves a pat on the back too. He gambled in the dying seconds, introducing Xherdan Shaqiri from the bench and sacrificing Ozan Kabak. He was rewarded with Alexander-Arnold’s first goal in nine months (right).
The Reds chief said: “Emotion-wise, it was the best goal for ages.”
Until the right-back’s late, late show it had looked like being one of those afternoons that has become a feature recently at Anfield. Ollie Watkins – who announced he is going to be a dad this week – is enjoying the time of his life. A call-up by Southgate, a goal on his international debut and now one in front of the Kop.
He announced his arrival in the Premier League with a stunning hat-trick against Liverpool at
Villa Park, and this goal came about after
Douglas Luiz picked up the ball, switched a pass to John McGinn he, in turn, found Watkins who finished.
Villa enjoyed a let-off on the stroke of half-time when VAR ruled in their favour over a wafer-thin offside decision that saw a strike from Roberto Firmino wiped out.
After the interval, Liverpool huffed and puffed but Bertrand Traore failed to track Andy Robertson and the Scot stung the fingers of Emiliano Martinez with a drive only for Mo Salah to grab his 19th of the season by nodding home the rebound. Trezeguet hit an upright before leaving the field in tears with an injury – Villa chief Dean Smith didn’t elaborate afterwards. He said: “I thought we were lucky still to be goalless after half an hour.
“We gave the ball away too often with sloppy passes. With one of our first good moves, we went one up.
“It was great to be in front at half-time, having not played well. “I thought we did better in the second half and that we deserved a point.”
LIVERPOOL: Alisson 5, Alexander-Arnold 8, Phillips 6, Kabak 5 (Shaqiri 89th), Robertson 7; Fabinho 6, Milner 6, Wijnaldum 5 (Thaigo (70th) 6); Salah 7, Firmino 6, (Mane
(75th) 6) Jota 7
ASTON VILLA: Martinez 6; Cash 6, Konsa 6, Mings 6, Targett 7; Luiz 6, Nakamba 6 (Barkley (66th) 5) McGinn
5, Trezeguet 6 (Ramsey 82nd); Traore 5 (El Ghazi (69th)
5) Watkins 6
STAR MAN: Trent Alexander-Arnold
REF: P Tierney
Liverpool’s next game: Real Madrid, Weds (h)
Aston Villa’s next game: Man City, Apr 21 (h)