Liverpool’s win over Watford on Wednesday night centred around the passing of Trent Alexander-Arnold, according to Alan Shearer.
The win meant Liverpool continue to occupy the top spot, with a point between them and Man City in second place.
TAA’s elite passing performance: Four things to know…
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- The 20-year-old managed three assists against Watford; two for Sadio Mane and one for Virgil van Dijk.
- The full-back enjoyed a passing success rate of 81% and had 102 touches of the ball.
- He now has six assists in 19 Premier League games this season.
- The player, who now has 10 assists for the Reds, was making just his 45th appearance in the league for Liverpool.
The 5-0 result means Liverpool helped silence growing concerns over a lack of goalscoring, after having scored just five goals in the previous five games.
But a man of the match performance from Trent Alexander-Arnold played a decisive part in the club scoring as many in one game as it had in the previous five, leading Shearer to praise the Liverpool-born defender.
“From an old man, James Milner in the first two minutes, he set the tone of the game because he closed down not once, not twice, but three times,” said Shearer.
Time to change that username, @trentaa98…
TAAA from now on.
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“Then, after that, the young man took over. Trent Alexander-Arnold,” he continued.
“You can’t give this boy that amount of time and space to whip balls in because he has got the ability to put it in that six-yard box and a forward will get on the end of it.
“He was absolutely magnificent getting forward and it was a masterclass in passing and crossing.”
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Alexander-Arnold’s “dream” night at Anfield
Trent Alexander-Arnold will be cherishing a rare triplet of assists, in a match where his opposite teammate Andrew Robertson also notched two.
The player, who is contracted to the club until 2024, has all the tools to go on to become a great for club and country.
But after the game, he admitted the surprising space given over to Liverpool by Javi Gracia’s men gave ample room for the wide men to deliver crosses.
“Obviously it’s every full-back’s dream to provide assists and to get three in a game is probably not something I’ll get the privilege of saying too often,” the England international told Liverpoolfc.com.
“But I’m happy to be able to provide the team with chances to score and credit to the lads for taking them, especially Virg with his two goals, who’s shown that he’s a real aerial threat.
“It was one of them where maybe their wingers weren’t probably that enthusiastic in tracking us and if the lads got the ball out wide to me and Robbo, that maybe we could provide crosses in and that’s the way it worked.
“I think, especially first half, we had a lot of freedom down the sides and we tried to provide as many balls into the box as we could for the lads.”
Sadio Mane, playing in an unfamiliar central striking role, had a lot of joy on the night – scoring twice – and Divock Origi, who is six-foot tall and strong in the air, was threatening.
“We had a bit more of an aerial threat with Sadio being so good in the air and Divock coming into the team, who’s a big lad”, Alexander-Arnold continued. “So it was important for us to give them service and that’s what we did.”
The post Liverpool record-breaker hailed for passing “masterclass” in 5-0 Watford thrashing appeared first on Squawka News.
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