Look at today for example. Yes Doku completed some dribbles, but most times Trent funneled him to the byline or inside and Doku wasn’t really threatening for the most part. Yet the prevailing narrative is that he got destroyed by Doku.
He has actually been decent to good at defending this season yet people say he’s been a horrific defender. I don’t think this is quite true if you watch him play.
I won’t claim that he’s an amazing defender but he’s not a bad one either, he’s just a perfectly average to good defender but the narrative is that he’s a liability. It’s frustrating to see.
Yeah OP conveniently leaving out that Ake just strolled past him like he was a training cone.
I don’t think it is lazy commentary or overblown at all. Trent is amazing going forwards, but he can’t defend for shit
“can’t defend for shit”
These takes sometimes, fuck sake.
Bottom 56% of RB’s for tackles. Bottom 88% of RB’s for clearances. Bottom 88% of RB’s for blocks. Bottom 84% of RB’s for aerial duels won.
Yeah mate, he is a fucking stellar defender isn’t he. LMAO you Liverpool fans cope so hard.
The guy is pretty much 99th percentile of RB’s in all attacking aspects. People recognise that, he is one of the best in the world. But he cannot defend, stop lying to yourselves and just appreciate him for the player that he is.
Trying to feed people false narratives about him being a good, or even decent, premier league defender is simply not true. Nobody believes it either, because it is plain for all to see. Don’t know who you are trying kid, but you are only kidding yourselves.
I’m not sure these stats are right , surely it would make more sense if he was in the bottom 8% for some of these stats , like if you said “he’s bottom 10% for ground duals among fullbacks” that would make sense
Same way if you’re talking about attacking stats you want a player to be in a high percentile eg 87th percentile for crossing accuracy
Yeah I worded it differently because this is the internet and I fully expect that a lot of people don’t understand what percentile means. So, instead of saying 44, 11, 11, 16 percentile, I said bottom 88% for example. I should have said either top 88%, or bottom 11%, you are correct.
No worries
Is that tackles or tackle percentage? Because that’s a stat that depends on many things - eg possession. If you have more of the ball then you’re going to have less chances to make tackles. So players on high possession teams will have fewer tackles.
Blocks and clearances are also about play style. We don’t sit deep, so no blocks, and we play possession football, so no clearances.
Aerial duels are absolutely a weakness of Trent. It’s funny that people talk about Vinicius rinsing Trent in the CL final, when in reality Trent won every 1v1. But his poor concentration meant he got beaten by Vinicius at a back post header, so people ignore everything else and jump on the false narrative.
Liverpool fan here and I totally agree. The man can’t defend. World class ball striker but is not a defender. And I hate the narrative but he’s so good going forward. That would be same thing as saying yes or striker can’t score goals or create but he’s so good at coming back to defend…. Ridiculous
Is Zinchenko a LB to you? Honest question Arsenal fan to Arsenal fan.