Jurgen Klopp has unleashed a new Liverpool masterplan throughout every age group
It's now over six months now since a tactical change increased the demands significantly on Liverpool's right-backs.
Without a win in five games, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders devised a gameplan to pack additional creativity into the team by getting Trent Alexander-Arnold into more central areas, further up the field. Rather than installing the Academy graduate into a fixed midfield spot, though, a compromise was reached.
The second half of a breathless 2-2 draw with Arsenal was punctuated by Alexander-Arnold's new-found freedom to roam. But at the time, it felt much more like a one-off tactic aimed at dragging the side back into the match after finding themselves two goals down to the then Premier League leaders.
It was a strategy that paid off handsomely as Alexander-Arnold began to cause all manner of problems for an Arsenal outfit that were a missed Mohamed Salah penalty away from a 12th defeat in 20 by the Reds on Klopp's watch. The No.66 supplied a late assist for Roberto Firmino with a pinpoint cross after nutmegging his way past Oleksandr Zinchenko on Easter Sunday.
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If the mid-game adjustment for Alexander-Arnold was very much a roll of the dice from Klopp, the 6-1 drubbing of Leeds in the subsequent game felt a lot more calculated as the England international ran riot, providing assists for Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez.
Having claimed just three before the April tweak, Alexander-Arnold ended a difficult campaign on the whole for Liverpool with 10 in total, giving weight to those who supported the move.
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