Manchester United 2-4 Liverpool: Liverpool renew top-four push with Premier League victory at Manchester United
Jurgen Klopp tasted victory at Old Trafford for the first time as Liverpool breathed new life into their top-four push with a thrilling 4-2 win in the rearranged fixture against Manchester United.
But while Klopp was in his element on the sidelines, Gareth Southgate was watching from on high, pondering the performance of one Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Gareth Southgate hasn’t always seen what so many others see in Trent Alexander-Arnold, but the England boss was given a demonstration of all the 22-year-old’s best qualities during Liverpool's emphatic win.
There was still some evidence of the defensive vulnerability that prompted Southgate to omit Alexander-Arnold from his most recent England squad back in March, but the Liverpool right back’s overall display was surely enough to force the national team manager to reconsider his stance.
Much of Liverpool’s best play flowed through Alexander-Arnold. United attempted to crowd him out by putting Paul Pogba on the 22-year-old to help out Luke Shaw. There was, however, no stopping the irrepressible right back who played a key role in two of his side’s four goals.
No Liverpool player made more crosses than Alexander-Arnold (five) - his season average is 1.6 per game. Nobody made more key passes than the 22-year-old, either (five), highlighting how Jurgen Klopp counted on his right back to be Liverpool’s creator-in-chief. Alexander-Arnold also made three through balls when no other Liverpool player managed one.
One of the biggest knock-on effects of Virgil van Dijk’s injury this season has been how the Dutchman’s absence has robbed Liverpool of a distribution channel. Van Dijk’s long-range passing gave the Reds another way to feed the ball into their attackers, but here it was Alexander-Arnold who took on the role, playing eight long passes. For context, his average for the season is 4.5.
There was one ball from Alexander-Arnold in particular, which released Sadio Mane in behind, that surely had Southgate pondering how he could utilise such a weapon with Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Raheem Sterling as the runners. No other English right back could have played that pass.
While the threat of Rashford in behind tested Alexander-Arnold, and the space left between him and Nat Phillips, he was central to the way Liverpool pressed high up the pitch and forced Manchester United into mistakes. This was evident in the way Alexander-Arnold won the ball for the move that led to the third goal, forcing the rebound off Dean Henderson for Roberto Firmino to finish.
Of course, Alexander-Arnold wasn’t the only English right back on show at Old Trafford. Aaron Wan-Bissaka has yet to make his senior debut for the national team, but is another good option for Southgate, proving how he has improved in an attacking sense by producing an overlapping run that led to the first goal.
Wan-Bissaka is, however, still a defence-minded full back (no United player made more blocks - three) and that makes him a very different sort of player to Alexander-Arnold. His inclusion, however, would round-out England’s Euro 2020 squad. Southgate doesn’t necessarily need his 26 best players, but the 26 players who still help him build a winning team.
Envisage the scenario - England face France, and Kylian Mbappe, in a knockout game at the Euros this summer. Who better than Wan-Bissaka to perform a ‘special ops’ job on the Paris Saint-German forward? There is no better one-on-one defender in the Premier League right now than the United right back.
⚽️⚽️💪 Roberto Firmino's brace in-between goals from Diogo Jota and Mo Salah seal Liverpool's first win at Old Trafford since 2014.
— Infogol (@InfogolApp) May 13, 2021
😯 It's also a huge one too as the Reds move to within four points of the top four with a game in hand.#LFC #MUNLIV
Southgate was also presented with an illustration of Harry Maguire’s quality, even in his absence. The Manchester United captain was sidelined through injury, with his Euro 2020 availability reportedly at risk, but the nervousness of the home team at the back said a lot for just how important he is. If fit, Maguire should be a pillar of Southgate’s England side this summer.
It was Alexander-Arnold, though, who bolstered his Euro 2020 case most of all. While Southgate is entitled to look for certain qualities in his defenders, the omission of the Liverpool right back from his squad this summer would be the greatest misuse of an England player since Paul Scholes. His inclusion would be well worth the risk. In fact, Southgate would be taking a bigger risk by not picking Alexander-Arnold.
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