Trent Alexander-Arnold critics slammed amid blunt Jurgen Klopp claim - 'Keep your mouth shut'

Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold is currently preparing for the start of the European Championship in Germany. Along with teammate Joe Gomez, the 25-year-old is part of Gareth Southgate’s 26-man England squad.

The Three Lions are favorites with the bookmakers to win the tournament and end their 58-year drought of major honors. Alexander-Arnold has already won everything with Liverpool, leaving international football as his one unconquered frontier. He may take care of that over the course of the next month.

Where he will play within England’s team is yet to be determined, at least publicly. Southgate has used Alexander-Arnold in midfield in the past and may have to once again due to a lack of experienced alternatives in the position. He also has Kyle Walker of Manchester City locked down in the Liverpool defender’s regular position of right-back too.

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There are many people who would not trust Alexander-Arnold to play there for England if needed anyway. Any defensive mistakes he makes are highlighted across the media when none of his positional peers come under anything like the same level of scrutiny for the errors they commit.

The latest person to put the boot in on Alexander-Arnold’s defending is Sam Allardyce, the former England manager (if taking charge of just one game truly justifies that title). The 69-year-old was also critical of Jürgen Klopp while he was spewing forth.

Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Allardyce said: “Trent Alexander-Arnold’s weakest point is his defending. It is difficult to understand that Jürgen Klopp was at Liverpool for so long and we still haven’t seen his defending get any better. When Liverpool had a tough time with injuries, he got exposed more than ever.

“He is a fantastic player and he’s brilliant on the ball,” the former West Ham boss added. “He can thread a 60-yard pass as well as anyone else can play a ball 20 yards, that’s how good his passing is. In the three-year period where Liverpool were winning the Premier League and Champions League he hardly ever had to defend, so that part of his game never really got exposed until they got a lot of injuries and started losing games.

“He got slaughtered for his defending but it looks like he’s overcome that due to the fact that he can also play in midfield. People will say that he won’t be as effective as Declan Rice or Jude Bellingham in midfield but they don’t know what they’re talking about, they need to keep their mouths shut," Allardyce concluded.

Liverpool.com says: Klopp repeatedly dismissed criticism of Alexander-Arnold's defending in the past so was clearly satisfied with his efforts. In that light, it is incredibly unlikely the Liverpool number 66 is going to be too concerned by what Allardyce thinks. Back to your pint of wine, Sam.