Alexander-Arnold had previously demonstrated Carragher’s argument on Rashford’s performance for Manchester United on Sunday earlier in the day.
Just hours prior at Anfield, Jamie Carragher had begun a biting analysis of Marcus Rashford’s performance for Manchester United. This was the ideal example of his point.
After Tottenham pulled off a 3-3 draw at Manchester City, I was sitting with Roy Keane and Micah Richards on Sky Sports when the talk turned to the previous evening at St James’ Park, where Manchester United had suffered their sixth defeat of the Premier League season against Newcastle.
In the eye of the latest storm was Rashford, whose contributions for Erik ten Hag’s team this term have been less than impactful. Carragher felt that the England forward’s credentials as a local player in the Red Devils side meant he should be offering more to arrest a slump that sees them on the brink of a Champions League exit and nine points off top spot domestically.
“I’ve been a local player and it’s not easy,” Carragher began. “Especially when your team is not doing well. Now for Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, more often than not they were doing well (at Manchester United) but for Marcus Rashford, myself and maybe Steven Gerrard at Liverpool when it’s not going well, it’s your job to fix it and you have got to drag other people up with you.
“Because I am watching Marcus Rashford now and he reminds me of [Anthony] Martial and that is the worst possible thing you can say about him. Because [Martial] is a foreign player who has come in, hasn’t done the business, doesn’t care really and that’s just a fact with Martial. Rashford now looks like Martial.
“As a local player it’s your job to drag those players up. And if your confidence is down and you’re not scoring goals or creating assists not a problem [but] you do not stop running for that badge and that shirt and those supporters because you are supposedly one of them. And what he did last night was nowhere near [good enough]. I know he cares but it’s not enough.”
Just a few hours earlier, Liverpool’s own local hero, Trent Alexander-Arnold, had just turned in the sort of game-changing intervention that used to be the trademark of a certain Steven Gerrard as the Reds saw off a spirited Fulham in a chaotic 4-3 triumph at Anfield.
Having had a superb free-kick to open the scoring officially credited as an own goal for goalkeeper Bernd Leno, Alexander-Arnold would not be denied a second time as he smashed home the seventh goal of the afternoon barely seconds after Wataru Endo had made it 3-3.
It was the sort of thing Carragher had been demanding of Rashford from Alexander-Arnold; a performance that dragged the team up when they were not at their best. It pulled them out of the mire and secured a huge victory that took them up to second, within two points of Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Alexander-Arnold simply wouldn’t be beaten on Sunday. His 10 regains of possession was the highest in the team while his successful passes (66), and shots (four) were only bettered by one other player. The versatile England international also used the full range of unrivalled passing repertoire with 81 in total. Across the last 12 months, the 25-year-old sits in the 99 percentile for assists, passes attempted and Expected Assisted Goals, which is a metric that determines how often the chances he creates should be scored.
His shot creating actions figure sits at 98% while his progressive passes are at 97. If the West Derby-born defender has redefined how full-backs are viewed and judged in the modern game, he is now an almost unique performer who operates outside of the traditional framework as far as formations and tactics go. Without being tethered to any one conventional position on a football field, Alexander-Arnold is thriving. Forget the perception over his defensive shortcomings, this is a player of rare skill who should be savoured as his peak years approach.
“Well obviously when he has the ball at his feet and he is free he can put the ball wherever he wants and that is a big quality,” says Virgil van Dijk. “We all know that and opponents know it as well. They tried to put him a bit more under pressure but obviously for him to score two goals and be important on the offensive side is good and it is something we’re going to need, so let’s keep it going.”
It’s been nearly nine years since Liverpool supporters were able to call on a homegrown talisman who made the decisive contributions when they were needed most and if Alexander-Arnold is following in the footsteps of the iconic Gerrard in so many ways, his recent output in the 1-1 draw at Man City and Sunday’s win is just another way he is emulating the legendary former captain.
That the winning goal came during his second-half cameo as a pure midfielder is another. The recent switch to boot manufacturers Adidas is also seeing him travel the same path from a commercial and branding point of view and he will one day finally realise his dream of, like Gerrard, being club captain having stepped up to vice skipper over the summer. The similarities are becoming eerie at this stage.
One that Liverpool should be desperate to avoid, however, centres around Alexander-Arnold’s contract situation at Anfield. In 2005, as the club basked in the afterglow of winning the Champions League, it was perhaps taken for granted that Gerrard would be staying put.
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