Trent: I'm not a young player anymore - I have to step up in these moments
Trent Alexander-Arnold explained why he now considers himself to be experienced enough and ready to take on more responsibility within this Liverpool side.
The No.66 made his 100th Premier League appearance in Saturday's 2-1 victory over West Ham United – a little under four years since making his debut in the competition.
The Reds are, of course, without Virgil van Dijk for an extended period of time, but have managed to secure wins in the four fixtures since the No.4 suffered his knee ligament injury.
And Alexander-Arnold detailed his current mindset when he spoke to reporters to preview the Champions League trip to Atalanta BC.
Read on for a summary of the defender's pre-match press conference...
On whether he's concerned about Liverpool's amount of clean sheets this season...
Not really. For us, we want the three points. That's our main objective going into games. At a time, you might start to think about clean sheets and stuff like that but for us as of right now, it's about getting three points and seeing how we can put ourselves in good positions in all competitions.
On Diogo Jota's impression on the team since arriving...
Really positive. On and off the pitch, a really nice lad, someone who's settled right in being able to mingle with the group and be a part of the team straight away. That's all you can ask really from a player coming in because it's not easy to come in and settle in so quickly. But he's adapted so well to the team and he's learning every day the way that we want to play and how the manager wants him to play. I think it's positive that he’s in and around the team.
On reaching 100 Premier League appearances at the weekend...
It’s a dream really. It's something I’m incredibly proud of. Something you can only dream of as a kid is to make 100 Prem games and you never expect to do so. But it's an amazing achievement for myself, I'm proud of myself and I’m grateful for the opportunities I've been given. Without a lot of help along the way from a lot of people, I'd never be able to make it this far.
On the environment at the club that allows young players to come in and impress...
What helps a lot is the fact they’re with us in training. In training we’re kind of doing the same things, we play and train with the same principles. So the lads are used to the way we play. They play against it and they understand the messages of how the gaffer wants them to play. For us, it's about making sure there’s an environment there that they can just be themselves and enjoy the football they play.
On the team's resilience after suffering setbacks...
We’ve felt like that for maybe the last few years – all that matters is the circle that we're in, the team we’re in. People have opinions and say stuff like that. But especially now knowing that we can achieve these things and we can go far in the Champions League, we can go far in the title race gives us that belief that anything can happen. No matter what the setbacks are, no matter what players we lose through injury and whatever, we're still able to achieve these things.
On whether he feels he needs to change his approach in the absence of certain players...
That’s part of football, you've got to adapt to situations because it's never going to be the same team every week, it's never going to be ideal. You've got to be ready mentally and physically to adapt in any given situation. The way that we went about it, the mentality the manager has instilled in us over the last few years has definitely helped us to be able to adapt in any situation. I think there's many important games where we’ve missed some very important players and we've still been able to come out ahead. I think that's obviously happening right now. Obviously missing Virgil, a massive player for us, and it's been probably one of the weirdest tests that we’ve had because since he's come in, I don't think he's really missed any minutes of football. For him to not be with us is something we haven’t really experienced, but it's a new experience and something we’ve had to adapt to.
On leadership and stepping up in the last few games...
That’s something I’ve thought about myself. I think I've made enough appearances now and had enough experience to class myself as not a young player anymore and someone who needs to step up in these moments. When you miss such a leader and probably the captain of the back four in Virgil, then it gives us and the rest of the back four an opportunity. It'd be difficult to say me or Robbo or Joe could step in and do exactly what Virgil does because we're not the same type of player. It's not easy to do something like that. But if the players who are really consistently in the backline can step forward and come together and make sure that presence isn't missed as much as possible, then it puts us in a good place. I think so far we've been able to do that.
On Atalanta's threat...
It’s the team that they have, the way they work as a unit, the way they attack together, defend together, it's really good, it's fluid. It’s a real team is the best compliment I can pay to them. All the way throughout the team they have the right mentality, the right way of going about things. The fact that they were the best attacking side in Serie A last year is important for us to know, so that's something we need to think about and need to look at, which we will. Hopefully we'll be able to get our game plan right and make sure we come away with the three points.