Football

I don't disagree.

That ^^ is a penalty, but IMO "unnatural" is the wrong adjective.

POV:
you're changing direction and a ball is pinging towards you, you keep your arms in love.

I think it's entirely normal for your arm to be there considering the momentum etc and so on.

I don't think it's deliberate ("ooh i'm going to luis suarez this!").

It's a slow monday.

Haven’t seen the incident but the madness of the “arm in an unnatural position” penalty laws mean that players are now having to run about in the box with their arms tight to their sides - one of the least natural positions imaginable.

Yep, closing down an attacker with your hands behind your back clearly isn't natural.

That comedy Wilson dive was really making use of the lightest touch he felt.

I liked his altercation with the ref.

I was surprised VAR intervened, as the referee had a clear view and the ball only traveled a couple of feet.

Trent Alexander-Arnold is a curious player - he is clearly (very) good at football but not particularly good in any position whether as a right back (where, too often, he either cannot or will not do the necessary defensive work) or in midfield (where he has neither the dynamism or positional discipline). Given he's played at a high level for many years under top quality coaches it doesn't appear that he will (can?) change. Then again, he's still clearly a quality player, quite the conundrum.

Maybe his skills will be better suited to the style of football in La Liga rather than in the Premier League?

I think it’s “will not”, fwiw. He’s so talented, I don’t believe for a minute that doing his defensive bit is beyond him.

Exactly. As a plastic Scouser I'd soon have the kid Bradley at RB and dedicated midfielder instead of trying to accommodate Trent.

He appears something of a luxury and as such will definitely suit Madrid. They can indulge a few of those normally

I think there are valid arguments to make about Alexander-Arnold’s defensive capabilities, but yesterday Utd were concentrating a lot of their attacks down the Liverpool right and he was getting virtually zero support from any of his teammates. Expecting him to single-handedly defend against two or more attackers is expecting a lot.

he's not the fastest player. maybe his nonchalant chasing back is being done at max speed and he just gets left behind. vvd was screaming at him numerous times yesterday as he's still in midfield while the ball is being dribbled into the box.

with no insight as to what slot is asking him to do i can't say if he's just out of position or just not putting a shift in. so often konate was out of position with trent eventually filling in at centre back as he ambles back into the box.

shame we can't get £60mn for him and let all parties be happy with a transfer.

maybe he's pissed at liverpool rejecting madrids first offer. if he's still here as the window slams shut he might get a second wind and put a bit more effort in to ensure he leaves with a few more trophies under his belt.

an enigma wrapped up in a conundrum

I am glad I don't get judged so harshly on my bad days at work.

so much this. Trent has had an amazing season as fars I know and yesterday just had a bad day in the office. hard to know if his head is in Madrid.

united were at it yesterday. amorim must see that as his best 11.

as for dodgiest penalty of the weekend so many contenders. we don't always deserve them.

gravenberch seems to have played a blinder every game this season as has virgil allison gakpo diaz macallister, it's not unusual to put in a decent performance every game. they seem to be able to avoid bad days at work.

they are all better players than Trent. except gravenberch.

i'd beg to differ on gravenberch. slot has turned him into a world class midfielder. he's been probably our best player this season. from an bit part player last season to one of first names on the teamsheet this. he's a levia lucas / he's a mohamed sissoko ..... liverpool fans love him

I'd hate to be judged on my good days at work tbh.

So long as I'm getting paid like Trent, IDGAF.

Utd were concentrating a lot of their attacks down the Liverpool right and he was getting virtually zero support from any of his teammates.

I think there's a lot in this, and I don't think Slot's tactics helped. He put Jota on so they were basically playing a 4-2-4 and Jota just wasn't doing the same defensive work as Jones. The midfield was just too stretched which meant with just Gravenberch and McAllister they couldn't shuffle over to cover the flanks, especially with the outside forwards doing little defensive work. I thought it was really strange, other teams have showed if you play a connected three in midfield you can over-run this United side. Fwiw United played the same midfield as they did against Bournemouth when they got destroyed. The difference was the defence looked to be more in tune with the tactical system.

Martinez definitely looked up for the match.

yeah i think slot got his subs slightly wrong in the game. was happy to see jota come on but taking off a midfielder and a striker for 2 more strikers and moving gakpo back to midfield / playing a 4 up front however you want to interpret it, seemed a bit to attacking at that point in the game. we had just scored, were in the lead and were looking like we were getting control of the game. we lost control of the game at that point and united got back into it.

Do you think Slot's intention, with those subs, was to put United to the sword given their recent poor form?

Which again would be odd as yesterday's United was clearly a different prospect.

Didn't he make the subs at 1-1?

ooops yes my bad. it was 1-1 when he brought on nunez and jota. he brought them on just after gakpo scored. i'd maybe have given the starting 11 another 5-10 minutes after the gakpo goal we were beginning to look better at that point. or possibly we were pushing to get the leveller.

i think we might have scored more with the 4-3-3 maybe he went a bit too attacking with the subs.