Arne Slot says he can see how upset Trent Alexander-Arnold is because the Liverpool vice-captain looked sad when he was taken off against Brentford.
Liverpool easily beat the Bees 2-0 thanks to goals from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah. However, fans noticed Alexander-Arnold’s sad face right away when he was taken off in the middle of the second half.
Slot does say that he knows why players get mad if they don’t make it to 90 minutes, though. “He didn’t look that happy when he was taken off,” the Dutch head coach said of his first game at Anfield.
“I get it.” Everyone on the team wants to play for 90 minutes. The guys who were on the bench from the beginning probably weren’t happy with the choice I made.
“But Trent just got back from playing for his country in a tournament. At first, he played a lot, but then he didn’t.” He took a break for a while and then came back. This is his third game.
“He needs to be taken care of because we need him for the whole season, not just the first two games.”
“But what’s good for me is that Conor Bradley is a great backup.” We’re taking care of Trent. He did well, though.
On the other hand, Reds midfielder Curtis Jones missed the game because of a small muscle injury. He will now have to work hard to be ready for next Sunday’s game at Manchester United.
He was also thought to make Lee Carsley’s first England team, but his fitness problems make that less likely now.
Ivan Toney is a star scorer for Brentford, and manager Thomas Frank said he will be glad when the transfer window closes so there is no more talk about his future.
The English forward was not picked by Brentford for the second week in a row.
When asked if Toney was getting any closer to moving, Frank said, “I don’t know.” Saudi Arabia was one of the possible destinations. I haven’t asked Phil (Giles, who is great at transfers) in two or three days. He trained hard and had a good attitude.
“I’m always glad when the window is closed because then we don’t have to argue about what might or might not happen.”