13 Apr 2023 21:57:22
Where does this narrative that Trent is one of our worst defenders come from?

He's 4th best in team for tackles, interceptions, and blocks above matip, vvd, Robertson and Gomez.

Top 3 in case you are curious are thiago, konate and fabinho for the same metrics.

He's nowhere near as bad as people say at defending but his mistakes do get highlighted far more than anyone else.

As a recent example during the arsenal game he repeatedly covered for the CB and made successful tackles in an area of the pitch that wasn't really his job. People are far too harsh on him. Scrutinise any player as much as he gets and you'll find weakness in his game.

Personally I think Trent should be moved to midfield as a deep lying playmaker in much the same way xabi used to do for us and just bring in a high energy tackler to do the donkey work, though keeping him at right back is also a good option since he is already the 2nd best defender (on defensive metrics) whilst simultaneously being top 2 (often first) in ; chances created, big chances created, assists and successful passes.

The day when Trent leaves y'all are going to realise how good he actually is and how harsh you all are.

1.) 13 Apr 2023
13 Apr 2023 22:32:51
got to agree with you Nevada, when Liverpool play well Trent plays well,
one major problem liverpool have is there aging midfield, Klopp has not sorted this out, in fact I would say that Klopp has failed here, ha thought that Melo was the answer . two big players to bring into midfield, plus Trent in a new position in midfield but deeper maybe. I think that while Darwin Nunez will come good, we should have went all out for Olli Watkins from Villa, he ticks so many boxes,
but yes I would move Trent into midfield, a good solid right back would then make us much stronger in defence,
every team has us worked out, just target Trent .
we can still get back to being the best team in THE Premiership .

2.) 13 Apr 2023
13 Apr 2023 23:30:52
I love Trent and think he’s brilliant.

But his defending this season has been terrible and he has been one of our worst defenders this season.

I don’t think that’s a narrative. I think it’s clear to see from watching the games.

3.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 00:03:45
Except @Navy Keith Trent is performing better than all defenders except konate and yet none of them get the same level of criticism.

4.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 02:27:27
stats can be a bit misleading. but ion general I agree that the trent is terrible at defending narrative is a lot of hogwash. He gets targeted far too much and it's often slanted. for instance:

- trent might get beat down his side then the cross it in and robbo / VVD are beaten to it, goal. Whose fault is it? Trent

- Robbo gets beaten down his side, then the cross is in and Trent is beaten to it, goal. Whose fault is it? Trent

- vs City - Robbo, beaten down his wing (again), Defense is scrambling across, Elliot doesn't help track the runner, goal. Whose fault is it? Trent

- Trent is squared up on the wing playing his defensive line. runner goes past and there is no CB or defensive mid to help. Whose fault is it? Trent

The trent nrrative is just stupid.

5.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 05:27:59
I believe the narrative of 'Trent can't defend' first came from Gareth Southgate as a way for him to justify dropping Trent from the England squad and playing Walker and Trippier over him. Ever since then, there has been an overemphasis of Trent's defensive ability or lack thereof.

Personally, I don't think he has done too badly at RB. Fans and pundits alike have been extremely harsh on him, most likely due to a desire to see him play in midfield instead.

6.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 05:29:02
There is a clear reason why teams target him and not Robertson. And that’s not down to the fact that he is the best, in fact he is the least of the best!
He is technically good and has a brilliant cross in him. But positionally he is one of the worst I have ever seen.

If he is the best in whatever amongst the Liverpool defenders then it says a lot about them and not him.

7.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 05:56:54
I think Trent is a decent 1-1 defender. He gets beat occasionally by top players like vinicius but who doesn't. Where he struggles is tracking runners in behind and covering for the cb when they are drawn to cover for him. However the reason teams target his side and not Robertsons is because trent is usually further forward and because Robertson side is Virgils side.

8.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 06:28:28
"stats can be misleading"

But not quite as misleading as a personal bias and selective attention.

People say he can't defend yet he makes more successful tackles and interceptions than all but one of our defenders. Those are key metrics for a defender.

"I think he looks bad" is the most subjective measure possible. People also talk like his match position is him just drifting out, he's quite clearly instructed to do that to take advantage of his passing range from a more forward position.

9.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 06:48:10
The question might be when has he not been in a position to even make a tackle or NOT tackled and the opposite player just glides past him? Has he made more tackles than other defenders because teams now “target” our RB as a weakness?

10.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 06:49:27
It's not an excuse and let's be fair, the whole team need to improve. But anyone noticed how all the best forwards are from the left. Even lesser ranked sides have their main threat down trents side. Martinelli, Zaha, mane, sane, grealish, sterling, rashford, mbappe, vinicius, saint maxima.

11.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 07:05:55
I think the reason trent has got so much stick this season is because too often he's jogging back, not flat out sprinting back. I do think it's went overboard with his defending as everything is blamed on him and it's definitely not him solely to blame for way the right side in particular has been. For instance Robertson cost us 1st goalagainst both city+ arsenal by selling himself near halfway line, if that was trent he would've been ridiculed non stop for it, hardly mentioned about robbo.
But I do think he has brought the attention on himself by too often jogging/ walking back.

12.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 07:17:28
Digger, it’s not possible for Trent to recover his position every time when he is so far up the pitch. If he was to try and sprint back every time he was “out of position” he wouldn’t last the game. Essentially it’s nearly like asking Salah to cover RB as Trent is so far up the pitch. It’s not entirely Trent’s fault, he needs support, in the footballing term.

13.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 07:33:21
I agree with digger here but would probably be more harsh. Don’t get me wrong, I love Trent and don’t want him to go anywhere, I appreciate he may be high in some obvious defensive stats but I suspect he’s also high in error stats. My main issue with him this year is laziness, not chasing back, standing still, general disinterest at times. All too often he just stands there, I’ve callled him out in live chat at least 4 or 5 times this year. Maybe he just looking at it saying he can’t cover every aging midfielder, be an attacker and be a defender all at once, the only thing I’ll give a player a hard time about is effort and honesty this year he has not put in 100% effort every game.

14.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 07:56:56
I think one of the problems is that as fans we will always have more biased views and they will never be consistent.

For example whenever one of our forwards scores a goal it’s because our forwards are class and it’s never the opposition defenders fault. But when other top class forwards go past our defenders then it’s the defenders fault.

No one’s ever mentioned that these other forwards (Vinictus etc) do it week in week out to most defenders.

Another example is a winger/ wide forward will probably dial with Trent/ Robbo say 18 times a game all over the pitch. But no one ever remembers the 14 duals the defender wins if there’s a resulting goal (s) from any of the 4 duals the forward wins.

Unfortunately defenders getting judged far harder than forwards.

15.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 10:15:30
OP, it starts off with someone passing off an opinion as fact and then the easily lead. / swayed / convinced and gullible jumping on the band wagon. Then no matter what the player does that doesn’t come across as magnificent is automatically used as another ‘fact’ that the player is no good. Of course is the player does something exceptional it is used as proof that for the rest of the time they just can’t be arsed.

16.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 10:38:45
To defend is to stop the opponent scoring trent struggles in this department at the moment and has a tendancy to ball watch on crosses.
But going forward my word the young man is very under rated his passing ability is world class .

But trying to put the defending and attacking here lies his problem and the managers and coaches problem to.

17.) 14 Apr 2023
14 Apr 2023 22:51:58
Great post, Dracred. It was Soutgate who started this whole thing and I remeber when. It was 2 seasons ago where he didn't pick Trent for an England game and his reason was that Trent wasn't playing as well as he had been 2 seasons priorYET he picked dumpster fires like Macguire and Dier. That's where he hung him out to dry and the narrative began.

Trent is a good 1 v 1 defender and has had monster games for us defensively with MOTM's to boot. The issue is that he lacks any form of defensive awareness, seems to not be able to check around him when defending towards his goal and ball watches a bit too much hence, cannot sense the danger. These are things he HAS to improve BUT with the way we are playing and the system being a shambles, these issues become even clearer to see and then, the haters come out.