Andrew Robertson on Trent Alexander-Arnold's Defensive Challenges

Andrew Robertson spent years bombing up and down the left flank with Trent Alexander-Arnold on the opposite side, the pair redefining what full-backs could be under Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool. They racked up assists, lifted the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League in 2020, and turned the Reds’ width into a weapon.

But as Robertson tells it, the way their defending was judged could not have been more different.

‘I started to feel sorry for him’

Speaking on The Overlap, the current Tottenham defender pulled back the curtain on the tactical trade-offs that shaped Liverpool’s glory years – and why Alexander-Arnold so often carried the defensive blame.

On the left, Robertson had Sadio Mane. Relentless, aggressive, always ready to sprint back and snap into tackles.

“The way I defended at Liverpool compared to Trent was very different. I had Sadio helping me out and he was a bit more aggressive so if I missed [a tackle], he'd usually be there,” Robertson explained.

On the right, it was another world. Mohamed Salah’s job was to stay high, to threaten goal, to be the outlet. That meant Alexander-Arnold frequently operated with far less cover.

“With Mo [Salah], we didn't want him coming back towards our box,” Robertson said. “A lot of times, Trent was waiting on someone like [Jordan Henderson] to come over, so, sometimes, I started to feel sorry for him.”

One flank had a built-in safety net. The other often left its full-back exposed in transition. The goals and assists came, the trophies followed, but the narrative around Alexander-Arnold’s defending hardened all the same.

English spotlight, different standards

For Robertson, part of that story lies in nationality and the unforgiving glare on homegrown stars.

“It's very different when you are English, compared to another nationality,” the Scotland international said. “I always said to Trent, 'I will never get as much high praise as you, but I'll never get as much criticism as you.'”

Alexander-Arnold’s rise from academy prospect to Liverpool mainstay made him a symbol as much as a player. Every misplaced tackle, every back-post cross he failed to cut out, fed a ready-made talking point: can he really defend?

Robertson rejects that label outright.

Locking down Mbappe and shining on the biggest stage

The Scot pointed to the period when Liverpool were at full throttle in Europe, with Alexander-Arnold delivering on both sides of the ball against the continent’s best.

He underlined the right-back’s performances on the way to the 2018 Champions League final, where Alexander-Arnold posted strong defensive numbers and handled elite opposition without fuss.

“I've seen him lock out [Kylian] Mbappe at PSG. In the Champions League finals, he was unbelievable,” Robertson insisted. “Trent is a very, very good defender… [in his] best games, he was an unbelievable one-v-one defender.”

Those nights, Robertson argued, should define the conversation. Instead, the mistakes – the ones every defender makes – stuck to Alexander-Arnold in a way they never quite did to others.

“Now, at times, he maybe makes mistakes. But we all do,” he said. “But it's if [Trent] had this stigma around him, that he can't defend. And he's had that from a very early age. It's as if he can't shift it.”

A career at a crossroads

The story has followed Alexander-Arnold from Anfield to Madrid. His 2025 move to Real Madrid was supposed to be the next great chapter, but his La Liga spell has stuttered, his place and long-term future at the club far from guaranteed as he battles to rediscover his peak form.

At the same time, the England question refuses to go away. Now 27, he has another chance to convince a national-team manager, this time Thomas Tuchel, after being named in the German’s latest squad. Despite his club honours and European pedigree, Alexander-Arnold has never fully nailed down a starting role for the Three Lions.

The stakes are clear. A defender once hailed as a generational playmaker from right-back is fighting on two fronts: to cement his status at Real Madrid, and to finally shake off a reputation Robertson insists never matched the reality of his game.

Whether this England camp and this season in Spain allow him to rewrite that story is the challenge that now sits in front of him.