Jamie Carragher was among those who piled in on Trent Alexander-Arnold following Sunday’s dismal display against Manchester United.

The defender endured a woeful afternoon at Anfield as Liverpool was repeatedly exposed down its right flank, with both United goals coming from Alexander-Arnold's side. Lisandro Martinez flashed the opener beyond Alisson after Bruno Fernandes found a gap in the right side of defence, while Alejandro Garnacho’s cross from the United left was tapped in by Amad for a late equalizer.

Liverpool had previously scored via Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah in the 2-2 draw that leaves Arne Slot’s side six points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand on its rivals.

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But one of the biggest post-match talking points was the performance of Alexander-Arnold, just days after Liverpool rejected a January offer from Real Madrid for the player. Gary Neville said during the match that the England right-back was ‘struggling’, Roy Keane described his defending as ‘schoolboy’ and joked he’d be more likely to join Tranmere Rovers than Real, while Virgil van Dijk made his feeling clear with an exasperated reaction to a late error.

As for Carragher, who was on commentary duty for Sky, he said: “Awful from Alexander-Arnold again. He's not at the races. He may have to come off.”

And the ex-Liverpool center-back got his wish as Alexander-Arnold was replaced by Conor Bradley in the 86th minute. Even in his brief cameo, the Northern Irishman put in an excellent tackle on Garnacho.

As for Alexander-Arnold, his display will not help a growing sense that he is destined for the Spanish capital this summer. Real reportedly offered a fee of £20 million ($25 million) to sign the player mid-season, an option Liverpool immediately rejected. The Mirror has since claimed the Reds have approached Alexander-Arnold with a £78 million ($97 million) contract over five years.

As for Slot, he defended the player and said his tough afternoon was mainly down to United’s quality and nothing to do with the hype surrounding him in recent days.

“I think Trent has played mostly very good games for this club and there have been games when he hasn’t been on his best,” the Liverpool manager told Sky Sports. “Today wasn’t his best and that was probably down to them as well, especially in the first half.

“Ryan [Gravenberch] wasn’t close to him and there was sometimes a 2v1 situation. I would put that more on the quality of [Diogo] Dalot and Bruno Fernandes than that is down to Trent.”