‘AIN’T NOTHING GOING ON BUT THE TRENT’
From being courted by the European champions to suffering the ignominy of rejection by the team placed 20th in League Two, it’s certainly been an up-and-down few days for Trent Alexander-Arnold. The subject of a cheeky £20m bid from Real Madrid last week, the Liverpool full-back did not enjoy one of his more auspicious afternoons in a Liverpool shirt at Anfield on Sunday, putting in a first-half shift that was so dismal it left the Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane incredulous. “We’re talking about him going to Real Madrid but he’ll be going to Tranmere Rovers after this performance,” quipped the Irishman, whose zinger has since been so widely reported he might be tempted to take it on a tour of regional arts centres in a one-man stand-up show, only for Tranmere to outwit him by posting a photo of their right-back Cameron Norman on their socials alongside the caption: “Trent to Tranmere? Nah, we’re alright thanks.”
While Trent would almost certainly be the first to admit he endured something of a shocker, only he knows for sure whether or not his head was in the tumble-dryer due to speculation linking him with a move to the Spanish capital. He might also be tempted to point out that he was given precious little assistance by – but several stink-eyes from – his teammates, throughout a match in which a curiously unfamiliar and organised Manchester United side repeatedly targeted his fabled defensive frailties as a potential source of goals. Liverpool should have been forewarned because this wasn’t the first, or indeed second time in the past nine months that United managed to shake off their lethargy and put in an uncharacteristically big performance against their bitter rivals, in the process defying the odds to avoid the shellacking most soothsayers had predicted.
As one of Trent’s tormentors-in-chief alongside Diogo Dalot, one might have expected Bruno Fernandes to be in a chipper mood after the game but the United skipper sounded anything but pleased. “Even today we can’t be happy with a point,” he harrumphed. “We need the points and we could’ve won the game at the end, but it’s a fair result. Both teams played good football. I’m pretty upset. If we show this level at Liverpool, first in the league, why can’t we do this everywhere? It frustrates me.” Not half as much as it frustrated all those £1 punters who had Liverpool as the first team down on their weekend coupon, Bruno.
While Liverpool must now prepare for an energy-sapping eight games in 25 days, Ruben Amorim can look forward to only his second uninterrupted week of training since taking the head coach gig at Old Trafford in mid-November. And if the shape into which he was able to whip his under-performing charges during the first one is anything to go by, it ought to come as no surprise if they slaughter Arsenal in the third round of the FA Cup next weekend. “That should be a big issue for our players that even one person thinks you have the ability but not the character, we have to fight that and change that,” he growled upon being asked if his players had answered questions about their poor mentality. “I think it is really clear. When we are focused, when we fight for every ball, when we suffer and we are tired when the game is finished, we are a good team.” Football Daily shudders to think how fed up Bruno and Ruben will sound when at some point in the not-too-distant future United actually win a big game.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
It’s not a bad run on paper if you had wins in it” – our friend and yours, Sean Dyche, perhaps hoping that Everton’s new owners can use their imagination and see a few more Ws in this run of results: DDDLL.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTER
Following four consecutive defeats, Manchester United’s elation at avoiding a thrashing and managing a whole point in their game yesterday perfectly illustrates that the Professor of Psychology, Barry Schwartz, was right in his seminal book ‘The Paradox of Choice’ and that the secret to happiness really is low expectations” – Noble Francis.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … erm, Noble Francis. Terms and conditions for our competitions – when we have them – can be viewed here.
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