Micah Richards shares Roy Keane view on 'exposed' Trent Alexander-Arnold display

Another day, another Trent Alexander-Arnold performance for the pundits to tear apart. First it was former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane, now it is former Manchester City defender Micah Richards.

Keane set the ball rolling immediately after England had beaten Finland 3-1 on Sunday. It should be acknowledged that he praised Alexander-Arnold for his free-kick goal, before then criticising his off-ball work. "If you give time to Trent, you can see his decision-making, his quality passing is fantastic but honestly, I still can't believe how bad he is defensively," Keane said . "Against better teams, of course, he'll be found out."

Despite frequently facing better teams than Finland, Alexander-Arnold is rarely embarrassed defensively. Nonetheless, his performance in the unfamiliar position of left-back was also scrutinised by Richards on The Rest Is Football podcast.

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“You sort of left Trent a little bit exposed in positions where he can be got at a little bit, if he’s going to play fullback and at left back on the wrong side,” he said. “You’ve got to be able to make sure that Kyle Walker stays and he goes into midfield as soon as possible, so he doesn’t get as exposed as he did at times in the game. I would have put Kyle Walker at left-back.”

In fairness to Richards , this is not critical of Alexander-Arnold, more the thought process from interim England manager Lee Carsley which led to the Liverpool man being stationed on the left of the back four. But why does this need to be debated at all?

Alexander-Arnold has won the Player of the Match award for three of England’s last four fixtures. As they lost the other, against Greece last week, there was no such prize for that game. If Carsley’s Three Lions have had a Player of the Match, it has been Alexander-Arnold. Yet still the pundits line up to pour oil on a very dull fire.

The 26-year-old is part of a Liverpool defence which has conceded just two goals in seven league games under Arne Slot. Alexander-Arnold played many of the games in 2018/19 when the Reds conceded just 22 goals, the joint-third best total in Premier League history. Across the 29 matches he played that season, the Reds' goals-per-game average was better than for the whole campaign too.

Yet still his defensive capabilities must be questioned. Even after everything he has won, even after being repeatedly defended by Jurgen Klopp, still it happens. Those Manchester men have to talk about something, don’t they?