Liverpool star Alexander-Arnold has been on a roller coaster in his career over the past year or so, first being questioned for his decline in form, then falling into injury and missing last summer's European Championship. However, after the start of the season, his form has improved little by little, and by December, he seems to have returned to his best form. In fact, it is also good for Arnold to experience the roller coaster-like situation of the past six months, at least his mentality is more mature, from a young player who has become famous young to a mature and stable stock.
Ahead of last year's European Championships, Arnold spoke to the Daily Mirror, saying that he had been struggling with himself that season and that he had enjoyed playing in a Liverpool shirt over the past few years, after all, it was a great achievement to be able to fight for his most beloved team. In the past period, despite the controversy, he has never given up, and has asked doctors to treat him to improve his vision, which has greatly helped him improve the accuracy of his passes on the field, which is very crucial for full-backs. Helplessly, the unexpected injury made all the previous preparations adrift.
But Saion missed the big game, but Arnold had enough time to rest and participate in the Reds' summer preparations. In the past few seasons, many Reds players have often been unable to participate in summer training for various reasons, more typical of which is goalkeeper Alisson, which also laid the groundwork for his incessant mistakes in the opening stages of the 2020-2021 season after winning the Premier League. Obviously, this complete systematic preparation period has revived Arnold's blood, and the most intuitive performance is that his attendance rate this season is very high, except for half a month of absence due to muscle problems (it happens that during the national team game, only missed 2 reds in all competitions) and entered the new crown virus after 2022, the rest of the time he is participating in all competitions as an absolute main force.
By the end of the 21st round of the Premier League, Alexander-Arnold had made 21 appearances for the Reds in all competitions, including 18 in the Premier League and 3 in the Champions League, and in the League Cup and FA Cup, he did not appear due to rotation or infection. Obviously, when dealing with multi-line combat, Klopp, who has suffered a loss of fatigue leading to injuries, has carried out a very necessary rotation of personnel, and for a core main force like Alexander-Arnold, it is only necessary to let him appear in the Premier League and the Champions League, and even in the case of little pressure to qualify for the Champions League group stage, the Premier League is Arnold's main battlefield. Because of the reasonable rotation to get a lot of rest and adjustment time, Arnold has delivered a satisfactory answer in the Premier League this season.
This season, Arnold has shown a terrifying talent for assists, with a total of nine assists as of the 21st round. In addition, he is the player with the most Assists in the Premier League in 2021, with a total of 13 times, and the player who has created the most opportunities in the Premier League in 2021, with a total of 108 times, and even in the five major league categories, he is second only to Frankfurt midfielder Krstic and Bayern core Thomas Muller in the top three. Obviously, This season's Arnold has returned to the peak level, in the major media, websites selected the 2021 best team, he is also a very competitive right-back position regular. Compared with what was pointed out by thousands of people a year ago, Arnold is now almost like two people.
In addition to assists, Alexander-Arnold has scored two league goals this season, the most exciting of which was undoubtedly against Newcastle United in the 17th round. It was a long-range world wave, when Liverpool's attack advanced to the front, and Newcastle was open in front of the penalty area because of the lack of time to retreat, and Arnold in the back row took the ball and did not make too many adjustments before getting up and hitting the goal, the ball went straight to the net like a cannonball, not giving the opposing goalkeeper time to react, and this goal was later voted the premier league's best goal in December. Perhaps, all the bad things in the first half of 2021, Arnold was released through this goal.
The focus of the 21st round of the Premier League against Chelsea is not only the Reds' first game of the new year, but also significant for Alexander-Arnold, as it is his 200th official first-team match for the Reds. In October 2016, Arnold made his first-team debut in the Reds' League Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur, and with the passage of time, he has become the Reds' re-emerging stock in the past five years, and he is a representative figure of the future. With 200 games in all competitions, 12 goals and 55 assists, Arnold wrote the story of young fame and perfectly explained what is the return of the king, and the sinking after his debut and peak did not exist in his place. Perhaps, it is a pity to miss the European Championship in the summer of 2021, but there is still the 2022 Qatar World Cup worth looking forward to, and youth is Arnold's biggest capital, and he still has unlimited potential.
Text/Supine Braces - Yangyuan Zhang