Trent Alexander-Arnold – From Moody to Simply Magnificent

A great full-back – now an all-round superstar?

For anyone who wished the season over a month or two ago, they'd not only have wished away a six-game winning sequence and chances of Champions League qualification rising from 3% to 30%, but, as I promised, the chance to see a new team emerge and develop.

(That said, I didn't expect the revival to be as strong – albeit it has still occurred maybe a couple of games too late to make the Reds odds-on. To have got players like Diogo Jota, Curtis Jones and Luis Díaz – who missed most of the season – fit a month-or-so earlier could have changed a lot.)

This includes the returning Díaz, and the chance to see experiments ahead of 2023/24, when some better (or at least younger/stronger/faster and perhaps taller) players will fill some of the midfield slots.

Curtis Jones has also returned and returned in style, to rank the Reds' 4th-most industrious presser per 90, and the top of the midfield pack; plus, hes only behind James Milner, Stefan Bajcetic (leading the way at 13 per game) and Thiago for duels contested per 90, and Milner tends to contest a flurry in 20-minute cameos that boost his numbers.

Jones' control is sublime, like velcro, but he needs to learn about when and where to pass (ditto with his shooting, as the lad can finish), but he's getting there. He’s a bit bigger, stronger and faster, and this is a theme about young players I keep returning to. He's helping spearhead a charge of six league wins on the bounce. He's just turned 22, but basically missed out at being 21.

But the biggest change has been to Trent Alexander-Arnold, who looked totally fed-up as a right-back whose 'old' job was to go upfield and then chase back against sprinter-speed wingers who, mostly, he could only grab onto and hope, if he could even get close.

Now - wow!

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