Is Trent a luxury we can no longer afford?
Throughout his tenure at the club, Klopp has consistently had to defend what Trent brings to the team from RB. Sure he’s not the world’s best defender but look what he offers the team going forward – Literally tearing up the rule book on what is possible from an attacking RB. This season however, as we rapidly approach March and Trent’s total assists tally for the season so far stands at a miserly two, combined with his (let’s be honest) shambolic defending at times, is he proving himself a luxury player who’s only really effective in an all dominant team?
Gareth Southgate clearly doesn’t rate him. In fact the game time he has had under Southgate, I’ve always thought it’s just been because of the amount of outside noise around him due to his attacking exploits at LFC, rather than Southgate really wanting him in his team. Rightly or wrongly however, Southgate is not an expansive manager. If anything he’s overly cautious, favouring a back three and two holding midfielders, even against lesser teams. I’m not going to argue his tactics today, they are what they are but where does Trent fit in for a manager that prioritises a solid defence first? I think the honest answer is he doesn’t, as we saw at the World Cup where he didn’t get a sniff.
Fast forward to this season and the well oiled, red machine we’ve become accustomed to watching has more closely resembled a broken down London bus. Our team has become disjointed, our midfield leggy and our forward line low on confidence. With that, teams no longer fear us, they’re having a go and Trent’s defending (or lack of it) has become ruthlessly exposed.
Saturday past, his sloppy, misplaced pass within the opening minutes set the tone for a shambolic defensive display from him and the collective sigh of relief from the fanbase when he was subbed was almost audible. Is it ability though or does it come down to attitude?
I mentioned a few weeks back in I think it was the Wolves game. Robbo was captain and having gone behind, he was urging everyone forward. He was gesticulating across the pitch at Trent to push up on a number of occasions, only to be met with a petulant look and refusal to move. That petulance has become more and more apparent as the season has gone on. We saw him gobbing off at the weekend, having been pulled up for the aforementioned sloppy pass and I’ve found his attitude questionable at best for most of the season.
Defending is an art that not all players possess, however the will to defend isn’t, it’s purely down to attitude. How many times this season have we seen Trent just allow the opposing winger to run past him, while barely making any effort to stop him at all? Too often is the answer. His lack of awareness of attackers around him has been his Achilles heel for quite some time but I can forgive not having that natural defensive instinct, what I can’t forgive is a lack of effort to just do the basics. Milner demonstrated on Saturday the difference just doing the basics makes to the solidity of the team.
Has Trent proved this season then that Southgate is right about him? That in a dominant team that will have 70% possession and concede very few chances, his delivery is a lethal weapon but when his team aren’t in a good moment and we need all hands to the pumps, he’s found wanting? On the evidence of this season it certainly appears that way.
Trent is still a young man, despite his level of experience now. He’s plenty time to both grow up a bit and polish his game but he needs to decide how he’s going to react to the criticism that’s coming his way. He can either sulk and strop about as he has been this season, or he can knuckle down and prove his critics wrong. Either way, he finds himself at a crossroads and only he can choose what direction his career goes from here. He clearly has a lot of credit in the bank with both Klopp and the fanbase but with every shambolic performance, every goal conceded and every point dropped, the noise around him only gets louder and if Klopp decided to take him out the team for a few weeks, he could have no complaints.
What do we think then troops? Is Trent a luxury player, only good when the garden is all rosy or is he just suffering a slump, as most in the team are? Either way, something has to change soon and if Trent’s not careful, that change will be his place in the team.
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