Trent Alexander-Arnold: We need to turn performances into results
Trent Alexander-Arnold called on Liverpool to rediscover their habit of converting positive performances into victories following Saturday's loss to Leicester City.
The Reds were in the ascendancy for much of the opening 75 minutes at King Power Stadium and deservedly went in front via Mohamed Salah’s clinical finish midway through the second half.
However, three goals in the space of seven minutes from the hosts turned the game on its head, with Alexander-Arnold left to rue a frustrating spell that undermined his team’s previous efforts.
The right-back told Liverpoolfc.com: “I think for 70 to 75 minutes we were outstanding, up there with one of our best performances – counter-pressing, taking the ball off them for fun, they couldn’t really get out. Really, really top drawer from us.
“I think first half we never created too many clear-cut chances but second half we did, had a few more shots, scored, and we were in the driving seat.
“Then the tables turned and they put the game to bed within the matter of five to 10 minutes and that’s football. It happened so quickly, it just happened in a moment and we’ve just crumbled at the end of the day.”
Read on for the rest of our post-match interview with Alexander-Arnold…
On the first Leicester goal seeming to sap Liverpool’s confidence…
We had confidence going into it. We were 1-0 up, I haven’t watched it back but being part of the challenge, I personally didn’t feel like it was a foul. I’ve heard it’s been dubious to be offside, but it’s part of football, we’ve got to get on with it. The second goal is one in a million really, just a lack of communication, no-one to blame there. The third goal, we’ve lost the ball in a bad position and they’ve punished us for it. By that point the game is dead and buried and it’s tough to get back from that point. But like I said, I think our mentality needs to improve in those tough situations that we had.
On how the players will look to reverse their recent run of results…
Everyone talks about a bad spell and a dip in form and stuff, but I feel personally we’ve performed well in the last few weeks, in the last two months or six weeks or so. I thought we’ve performed well, it’s just that we haven’t been getting the results [and] it’s a results business so there’s no excuses for that. But I think confidence-wise, we’re not playing badly, we’re not getting battered. We’ve been playing well but not getting the results so it’s about turning those performances into results and that’s probably what we need to look at most.
On the chance to respond in Tuesday’s Champions League clash with RB Leipzig…
Yeah, in situations like this you want the opportunity to put it right as soon as possible. Different competition, which always freshens it up, different mentality going into it. It’s going to be a different task for us, a Champions League night. It’s always nice to play in that so it’s exciting to have the prospect of a knockout game of football again. You wait so long for the knockout rounds of the Champions League - it’s always exciting, it fills you with that excitement, so it’ll be good. We need to recover and go again because we’ve got a big game come Tuesday.