Steve Nicol called Trent Alexander-Arnold’s performance against Napoli “unacceptable” and told Jurgen Klopp to sideline the 23-year-old against Wolves on Saturday.
The Reds suffered an embarrassing 4-1 defeat against the Serie A side in their first Champions League clash last night with a string of lackluster performances from Klopp’s star men.
The Merseysiders were trailing 3-0 at half-time in Naples and despite a slight improvement in the overall team’s performance during the second half, Nicol criticized our No. 66 for his performance.
“Unacceptable. Unacceptable. I don’t know how else to put it,” he told ESPN (via Express).
“It is unacceptable and Klopp will have to do something to change it. And if that means him sitting on his back as a reminder, then he’ll have to.
“Because it is unacceptable. There is no other way to say it. It is unacceptable for a professional player to walk.”
READ MORE: James Pearce suggests two worrying reasons behind Liverpool’s poor performances of late after the Naples horror show
The England international played the full 90 minutes at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, but despite the transfer window recently closing earlier in the month, it appears the Academy product could benefit from some competition for his place in the stadium. Right side.
Joe Gomez, who had a night to forget against Napoli, can operate at right back, while Aberdeen’s summer arrival Calvin Ramsay is expected to compete with Trent once he returns to full form.
The main concern of the fans was the way Alexander-Arnold, like many others, seemed extremely uninterested against the Italians.
His hunger to retain possession when we lost it was simply not there and the part he played in André-Frank Anguissa’s goal was hard to watch.
One thing you can normally expect from this Liverpool team is constant work-rate and commitment.
But that is something that has been missing for most of this season and that has been reflected in our results.
Klopp claimed that Wolves would have been laughing at our performance last night before their trip to Anfield on Saturday and it’s hard to argue against the German strategist.
The 55-year-old will surely consider a number of changes ahead of our showdown with Bruno Lage’s side.
Thiago Alcantara impressed when he entered the fray at the hour mark last night and Reds fans are hoping to see him early on at the weekend.
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