The Northern Ireland captain is a promising replacement, if much different in style to Alexander-Arnold
The marriage between Liverpool and Trent Alexander-Arnold has been extremely fruitful over nine years. The West Derby-born lad entered the first team under Jurgen Klopp in 2016 and has since played a key role in the club’s most successful period in the Premier League era.
That marriage now looks set to end in a divorce. The papers could be signed by summer. Liverpool supporters wanted it to go on – till nature do us part. But Alexander-Arnold wants something different in his career. Against Leicester at the King Power Stadium, the right-back celebrated his winner like it was his last goal for the club.
But if their world-class defender were to leave, how would Liverpool replace him? The obvious answer is that Conor Bradley would take over. Another young right-back that has come through the ranks, Bradley made his full Premier League debut for the club in January of last year, marking the occasion with an assist. He has since proved himself as a solid backup for Alexander-Arnold, earning praise from both Klopp and Arne Slot.
Liverpool’s current manager said last Friday that “unfortunately” for Bradley, there is “another full-back who is world class at this club as well” and that is why the Northern Irishman has not “played back-to-back-to-back-to-back games yet, because he definitely has the quality to do so”.
But how would things look like if Alexander-Arnold were to leave and Bradley replaced him?
Comparing Bradley and Alexander-Arnold’s styles of play
The Northern Ireland captain has generally shown more ability in defence than Alexander-Arnold. His bold sliding tackle against Kylian Mbappe in the Champions League – impatiently disposessing the foraging striker – had the Anfield faithful roaring with pleasure. Such combative and aggressive displays are a key part of this young footballer’s game. And fans love that.
It is a positive for him, and also stands in contrast to Alexander-Arnold’s play, with the England international having often been criticised for his defensive work.
In attack, Bradley has shown the tendency to bomb forward and drive the ball deep into the opponent’s half. On the other hand, Alexander-Arnold prefers to keep some distance, which affords him space for his passing.
Their stats reflect this difference. Bradley has attempted 2.7 dribbles and completed 1.0 per 90 minutes. In contrast, Alexander-Arnold has attempted 1.2 dribbles and completed 0.5 per 90. Bradley is also averaging 5.8 touches in the opposition box per 90, while Alexander-Arnold has 1.9. So clearly, the Northern Irishman is making more penetrating runs and getting into the opposition box a lot more than Alexander-Arnold – at least twice as more.
This does not signify output. It just means that the two players have different approaches.
Alexander-Arnold tends to drift infield, collect the ball and hurt teams with his passing. He also likes to lag behind when the Reds are attacking, and then when the ball drops to him he has some space, and is then able to whip in outrageous crosses and give the attackers chances to score.
Charging into the box like Bradley does would obviously mean that he cannot use his most dangerous skill.
Comparing output of the two Liverpool right-backs
When the attacking output of Bradley and Alexander-Arnold is compared, the gulf is quite evident. Alexander-Arnold has attempted 89 open-play crosses, with 23 of those successful. On the other hand, Bradley has attempted 5, with 1 successful.
Alexander-Arnold has also created 40 chances from open play, 14 big chances, scored 3 goals and contributed 6 assists. Bradley, on the other hand, has created just 5 chances from open play, 2 big chances, scored 0 goals and contributed 1 assist.
Alexander-Arnold has played four times as many minutes as the Northern Ireland captain, but the numbers still confirm what everybody knows – that the two players are clearly a world apart in terms of class and output.
So, if Alexander-Arnold does leave Liverpool, he will definitely be missed. It would be virtually impossible to get any other player to just come in and replicate those numbers. That doesn’t just happen when the departing player is arguably the world’s best in that department.
How would Arne Slot replace Alexander-Arnold?
If the England defender leaves Anfield, Bradley can be expected to make the right-back position his own. Defensively, as noted, this would be promising for Liverpool.
However, attacking wise it would be too big an ask for the Northern Irishman to match Alexander-Arnold’s level of output. The more likely scenario is that Slot would need to implement a systems replacement: reorganising the team’s approach to either lay the creative burden on another player in another area of the pitch, or spread it around.
Slot would have to decide that when he works with the squad in preseason – if, that is, Alexander-Arnold leaves the club.
