Arne Slot stands over Alexander-Arnold decision as Liverpool fans make their feelings clear | OneFootball

Arne Slot insists he has no regrets over his decision to bring on Trent Alexander-Arnold during Liverpool’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal on Sunday.

What should’ve been a day of celebration in the Reds’ first home match since becoming Premier League champions was instead overshadowed by the unmistakable jeering of the right-back a few days after he confirmed that he’d be leaving on a free transfer at the end of the season.

Jamie Carragher was among the pundits to question the widespread booing of the 26-year-old by the Anfield faithful as many among the match-going support made their feelings crystal clear.

What did Slot say about Alexander-Arnold afterwards?

Slot was prepared for the inevitable onslaught of questions about the response to Alexander-Arnold’s 67th-minute introduction yesterday, and he detached from the overarching narrative to justify his decision by attributing it to purely football terms.

The Liverpool head coach explained (via Yahoo! Sports): “The thing I consider is I want to win a game of football and if we think we can win with Trent, I owe it to his team-mates and to the fans, because [Liverpool] hired me to win as many games of football as possible.

“If I think there’s a better chance of winning with Trent, then I will [pick him]. If I think it’s a distraction or whatever can happen for us not to play a good game of football, then I might make another decision, but I think Trent showed today why I brought him in because he was very close with a few fantastic crosses for us to win the game.”

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Slot will have known the fans’ feelings about Trent beforehand

Slot is no fool; he’ll have been well aware of the general feeling towards Alexander-Arnold before selecting his matchday squad for the game against Arsenal. Maybe he mightn’t have been expecting the extent of the rancour towards the 26-year-old, but he’d have known that a lot of Liverpool fans are massively scorned by the player’s career choice.

In terms of bringing him on in yesterday’s match, the right-back showed in flashes why his footballing qualities will be missed, with one particularly inviting cross crying out for a tap-in from either Darwin Nunez or Diogo Jota, both of whom tried but narrowly failed to get on the end of it.

We would expect that, fitness permitting, Conor Bradley will also start against Brighton and Crystal Palace so that the head coach can continue to assess the 21-year-old’s suitability to a fixed starting role for next season.

If there’s one positive to Alexander-Arnold leaving it so late to announce his exit from Liverpool, it’s that there’s only a couple more matches to go before he takes leave of his boyhood club, at which point we’ll properly be able to move on from this regrettable and preventable soap opera.