Roy Keane's lazy Trent Alexander-Arnold opinion is irrelevant and outdated - here's why

The lead story from around Trent Alexander-Arnold's dazzling all-around display. The Liverpool defender and performed well, preventing a two vs. one when England was caught out on a switch in the first half.

More importantly, was so impressive that even known curmudgeon couldn't help but offer praise: "I'm usually harsh on goalkeepers but I'll go easy on that one. The power and the accuracy behind the goal makes it very difficult to stop," he said.

For some reason, all praise of the mercurial fullback must be accompanied by an equal dose of criticism. Keane couldn't help but dig into the tired critiques of Alexander-Arnold one could find on a 12-year-old's troll-centric X account.

"If you give time to Trent, you can see his decision-making, his quality passing is fantastic but honestly, I still can't believe how bad he is defensively," Keane admitted. "Against better teams, of course, he'll be found out."

Against in the first leg of the 2021 quarterfinals, Alexander-Arnold had a horror show. He failed to contain Ferland Mendy and a pre-breakout Vinicius Jr throughout a horrifying 90 minutes as Liverpool fell 3-1. His reputation as an inept defender was born.

Alexander-Arnold will never be the world's greatest one vs. one defender. For him to be valuable, all he needs to do is be competent.

In the NBA, the narrative for undersized defensive guards is to be just good enough defensively to not undo all of the strong work contributed on the other end of the floor. Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks has averaged more than 25 points per game for five straight years, numbers in line with Steph Curry. Why do they not have the same level of fame? Curry has become a competent NBA defender and Young is a complete turnstile.

New has slightly tweaked Alexander-Arnold's role in the team. The heatmap above shows how much closer the fullback plays to the touchline than last season.

His new position is a blessing and a curse; on one hand, Alexander-Arnold is less involved in Liverpool's buildup. his 6.31 progressive passes per 90 and down from 8.58 last season. His 76.8 touches per 90 are down from 96.1 last year - his career-best is 101.5 back in the title-winning campaign.

But by playing further from the center of the pitch, Alexander-Arnold is less involved in critical defensive plays. Liverpool would rather have or tackling opposing forwards than their fullback. Last season, Alexander-Arnold lost 2.51 tackles per 90. This season? Just 1.01.

His 61.1 percent tackle win percentage ranks 60th out of 187 qualified Premier League players for the young season. defender Kyle Walker got the nod over Alexander-Arnold at right-back for England largely due to his defensive reputation. Where does he rank for tackle-win percentage? Just 116th.

Slot has found the compromise: involve Alexander-Arnold so he can impact the game with his transcendent skill set while not completely destroying your defensive structure.

Either way, pundits like Keane will still bring up a years-old narrative muddled into anecdotal evidence over statistical or tactical analysis. Why do you think he currently works for ITV and not for a club?