2 weeks Ago By James Stroud
Liverpool are now just one win away from winning the Premier League title after securing a hard-fought victory over Leicester City on Sunday afternoon. The Reds went into the game at the King Power Stadium expected to easily defeat their opponents, who have been struggling near the bottom of the table throughout the season. However, despite being at opposite ends of the table, Leicester put up a good fight and frustrated the league leaders for much of the match.
The home side's resolve was broken with just 14 minutes of the game remaining, though. After some pinball inside the box, the ball fell to Trent Alexander-Arnold who hammered the ball into the back of the net with his left-foot. Liverpool were able to keep Leicester at bay for the remainder of the match as they held on to all three points.
Carragher Speaks About Trent Alexander-Arnold After Winner at Leicester Alexander-Arnold went wild after scoring what turned out to be the winner. It is unknown whether he will be a Liverpool player beyond this summer and, after the match, the 26-year-old was asked about his future , which he refused to discuss. Carragher lauded Alexander-Arnold after the game but said Arne Slot should now bench him for the rest of the season .
He said on Sky Sports per Goal: "You can't replace him, because what he is. The reason we talk about him so much, I think why he's the most talked about full-back we've probably ever seen in the Premier League, is because he's unique, he's different. "You've [Micah Richards] just mentioned about him defensively, now, most top full-backs don't get it thrown at them that they're not very good defensively.
But he's so unique on the ball, I think I said four or five years ago, it's like having Kevin De Bruyne playing right-back, that's what it feels like in terms of his ability on the ball. He can come on and change games, so Liverpool aren't going to replace that. "So Liverpool need to replace his creativity, they're not going to do that from right-back, they maybe need to that from an attacking midfield position, or maybe a left-wing position.
So, the team has to evolve that way. Now, where they can replace him, is Conor Bradley's a right-back. Conor Bradley shouldn't look at Trent and think, 'I want to be like him.
' He's got to be like Andy Robertson was when he was in his prime, a proper full-back, up and down, aggressive at the winger, maybe overlapping, getting crosses in, underlapping is what the Liverpool full-backs like to do. "So you're not going to be able to replace him, so forget that, but the big decision Liverpool have, or a couple of decisions between now and the end of the season, and the summer is..
. If Trent hasn't committed, which he hasn't obviously, to the manager for next season, he shouldn't be starting games. He shouldn't be.
.." Carragher then explained why he thought Alexander-Arnold should be benched for the remainder of the season.
He continued: "Liverpool are not here as a football club to give someone a send-off. In Conor Bradley you've got a young player. It's not like we're talking about a 27, 28-year-old, talking about a young player who had a tough 15, 20 minutes at the start of the game, and that's part of becoming an experienced player.
"I went through that in certain games, Gary [Neville], who's commentating, would have gone through situations like that. It's not about: 'Let's give Trent a send-off.' It's about: 'Okay, we need to assess whether Conor Bradley is the guy for us next season playing week in, week out.
' "Because the decision Liverpool will have in terms of Trent moving on is: 'Does Conor Bradley become our first-choice right-back and we buy a back-up player who's maybe a utility player, who can maybe play centre-back?' Or: 'Are we buying a first-choice right-back and Conor Bradley's going to have to battle with him?' "So that lad needs as much experience as he possibly can get. So yes, bring him on as you did today if you need to go and win the game, maybe against Spurs or a couple of weeks after that. But in terms of starting games right now, if Trent hasn't committed to the club, which he obviously hasn't, Conor Bradley should be starting every game.
" Liverpool are next in action on Sunday April 27 when they welcome Tottenham to Anfield. A win for the Reds will see them clinch their second Premier League title. Whether Alexander-Arnold starts, or has to settle for a place on the bench once more, remains to be seen.
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