As I promised you soccermanagerites, we will be taking a look at the man dem who operate to the sides of our D(C)s. These are the players who tend to provide the width for most teams in today’s game, but amazingly, the player whom we will be discussing can’t even be considered a traditional ‘Fullback’ because he plays nothing like one. That’s right lads, we’re discussing England’s newest David Beckham who happens to play in defence: Liverpool’s own, Trent Alexander-Arnold.
PLAYER BIO
The legend himself, Trent literally has the world at his feet and has the ability to produce some of the best crosses and through balls that you will see from a 25 year old in today’s game.
BEST ATTRIBUTES WITHIN SM24
If you are here from our season 10 episode of Trent’s attributes within SM24, big up yaself! 👊
These are what you will see within SM24 as his best attributes which are highlighted once it has an individual rating of 80 or more since anything over 80 is considered a very good trait for a player to possess. We don’t fully agree with the above attributes, so you can check out what we think below…
UPDATE: THE SMB WAY
Alrighty, so as we can see, Trent Alexander-Arnold just oozes brilliance with the level of outstanding attributes that he has, based on our perception. What makes him even more effective is that most of his world class attributes are things that can determine the outcome of match such as his passing, set piece capability and his vision. A player that anyone would adore to have within their team and now you know some of his best tools within his locker!
BEST ROLES
I personally believe that T.A.A is going to be the most interesting world class player to look into as he is beyond unorthodox. Although it says he can play as a DM(R), he is not actually a traditional ‘Wingback’ that wants to bomb forward whenever he gets the chance, and since he cannot defend, he is no longer able to effectively play as a ‘Fullback’. Therefore, Trent’s best role at RB is at the newly popularized ‘Inverted Fullback’ role that has been brought back into style over the past decade or so; His secondary position (and a new one at that) is his ability to now play as a ‘Deep lying Playmaker’ who pulls the strings for his side within the center of the pitch via the use of his incredible range of passingAs I mentioned above, Trent can no longer operate like an out and out ‘Wingback’, so it makes no sense to play him out-wide as he will simply not be effective, in my opinion. Therefore, if you aspire to use him within a back 3 or back 5, then you will need to play him within the middle of the park again as your ‘D.L.P‘
HOW TO BEST USE HIM
Normally, when you play someone as your ‘D.L.P’, you will have to point his arrow to ‘defending’, but like I said, Trent is such a fascinating player that he does not work well under convention. He can never have his arrow pointed because he simply isn’t a good defender, and he can only operate in formations that allow him to play deep and within a double pivot (4-2-3-1, 3-4-1-2, 4-2-2-2, for example). Additionally, you will have to use him as your playmaker which marks the very first time that we’ve mentioned the tactical instructions within this series (yay!!!!!!!) 🤸♂️
WHO ARE THE BEST TEAMATES?
Trent is such a unique player that in order to truly get the best out of him you will need the perfect match of players alongside him which will get him playing to his strengths (i.e, avoiding defensive responsibilities as much as possible):
I absolutely LOVE this!!!!! Here we have the best way to get T.A.A purring within your match. This set up above is quite risky as you are literally setting up practically your entire X1 to get the best out of one player, but when that one player has the accuracy of a world class bullseye type of player, you’ll want to make some sacrifices! Firstly, in order to get the best out of Trent as your ‘Inverted Fullback’, we will have to use him as a playmaker. He will also require a ‘Stopper’ besides him to cover for his defensive frailties, as well as a ‘Box to Box Midfielder’ who is more defensive in order to add even more protection for Trent and provide that goal to goal energy. In the attack, a ‘Winger’ who is comfortable hugging the touchline will be beneficial to allow Trent to sit inside and have options on the flank to pass to, while the attacking player on the left should be a ‘Wide Forward’ who has exceptional movement to get on to those through balls that T.A.A is soooo good at!When choosing to play Trent in the double pivot within a back 4 formation, the most important player will be the one playing next to him. This player (in the humble opinion of the Soccermanager Blog), should be a defensive minded ‘B.W.M’ who has the capability of single handedly breaking the attack by himself while Trent helps out in the attacking phase. He will need 2 ‘Wingbacks’ that have the stamina to get up and down that those flanks constantly receiving balls from Trent, while a ‘Stopper’ who can protect and help the ‘B.W.M’ cover during the defensive phase will be needed in order to ensure that T.A.A does not have to worry that much when your team loses possession. Of course, Trent is all about his exceptional passing ability so you will need at least one of your attackers to be a very exceptional off the ball mover which you will find most predominantly within your available selection of ‘Wide Forwards‘The one disadvantage about T.A.A (that isn’t his defensive game) is that he’s a player that needs the ball at his feet. What this means is that he is not the most mobile of players and when you add the fact that his Midfield partner has to be a defensive stalwart, you tend to have a pretty immobile Midfield 2, so the best way to actually ensure that you never get overloaded in the center of the park (especially when you’re playing a back 3) is by utilizing a ‘Deep lying Forward’ (also known as a False 9) who can drop deep and provide an extra layer within the middle third of the pitch;It is also advised that the RCB within the back 3 is given the role of a ‘Stopper’ that is solely focused on his defensive responsibilities
I have full belief in the fact that Trent has the potential to become the first Balon D’or winner since Michael Owen back in 2001 (Jude says “ello” 🍵) . The things he can do on the ball at such a young age must have every Scouser absolutely grateful to call him one of their own. So long as he continues to work on his average defensive abilities (doesn’t even have to be that good in my opinion), he will go down as one of the greatest players to ever play the game, period.
For our next episode, we will be taking another look at a similar type of player to Trent albeit with a bit more flair to his game, as well as a little bit more defensive prowess. Anybody up for a trip to Portugal? 🇵🇹
The Soccermanager Experience 