Arne Slot‘s decision to send on Trent Alexander-Arnold was not a popular one, but he has explained why he had to substitute Conor Bradley against Arsenal.
To say Alexander-Arnold’s introduction at Anfield, six days after he confirmed he will be leaving the club, was unpopular would be a huge understatement.
Met with boos and jeers throughout his half-hour on the pitch against Arsenal, the right-back was made well aware of supporters’ feelings on his impending free transfer to Real Madrid.
There was a bemusement over Slot’s decision to use Alexander-Arnold at all, but speaking both before and after the game, he made it clear Bradley was not yet fully fit.
“I said in the press conference on Friday that if Conor would have been fit, he would have [started] against Chelsea as well,” he told Sky Sports ahead of kickoff.
“He wasn’t ready for 90, today I’m not sure he’s ready for 90, but he’s ready to start.”
Bradley was subsequently brought off on 65 minutes having visibly tired, stepping off to allow Leandro Trossard’s cross for Gabriel Martinelli to make it 2-1 – though he pulled off a brilliant block to deny Martinelli soon after.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Slot was asked why he felt the need to bring Alexander-Arnold on and gave another indication that his No. 84 was not fit enough to play the full game.
“If we are, after 70 minutes, 2-2, Conor can’t continue and I have a world-class full-back on the bench, I bring him in,” he told reporters.
Slot was, however, impressed with Bradley’s overall performance, using supporters’ chants of ‘there’s only one Conor Bradley‘ when Alexander-Arnold was introduced as a platform to praise his new first-choice right-back.
“I think the first thing they did is give credit to Steven Gerrard one more time, for the player he’s been for this club, then they sung for Conor Bradley,” he continued.
“[He] deserved that completely, because he played great 60, 70 minutes long – although he had to block the cross for 2-1, but that I will tell him this week. But he played really well.”
Bradley’s fitness is an ongoing concern heading into a summer where he is slated to take over from Alexander-Arnold full-time, and his weary legs seemingly played a part in a second-half collapse.
“Unfortunately we had 15 to 20 minutes where we played with the same intensity – and it’s not completely bad – to what we saw last week,” Slot admitted.
“We played really good with the ball, came into so many promising positions, but in the final third we weren’t that decisive – and defending last week was, let’s put it nicely, not so good.
“That I saw in the first 15 minutes after half-time, but the first half was great.”
