Andrew Robertson on Trent Alexander-Arnold's Defensive Struggles

Andrew Robertson has lifted the lid on what it was really like defending alongside Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool – and why he always felt his close friend was fighting a battle he could never win.

The pair were the bookends of Jurgen Klopp’s great side, tearing up the flanks as Liverpool stormed to the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League title a year later. Their assist numbers turned full-backs into playmakers and redefined what the position could be.

But while the attacking plaudits were shared, Robertson believes the defensive criticism was anything but.

‘I started to feel sorry for him’

Speaking on The Overlap, the current Tottenham defender explained how Liverpool’s system left Alexander-Arnold exposed in ways that were rarely acknowledged outside the dressing room.

On the left, Robertson had Sadio Mane snarling back towards his own goal, pressing and tackling with the same ferocity he showed in attack. On the right, Mohamed Salah was encouraged to stay high, hold his position and be ready to break.

That difference changed everything.

“The way I defended at Liverpool compared to Trent was very different,” Robertson said. “I had Sadio helping me out and he was a bit more aggressive so if I missed [a tackle], he’d usually be there.

“With Mo, we didn’t want him coming back towards our box. A lot of times, Trent was waiting on someone like [Jordan Henderson] to come over, so, sometimes, I started to feel sorry for him.”

The structure meant Alexander-Arnold often found himself isolated, facing counters with less immediate cover. Mistakes in those moments were replayed and dissected. The context rarely was.

English spotlight, different rules

Robertson also pointed to a harsher glare on Alexander-Arnold as an England international compared to his own experience with Scotland.

“It’s very different when you are English, compared to another nationality,” he explained. “I always said to Trent, ‘I will never get as much high praise as you, but I’ll never get as much criticism as you.’”

That double-edged sword has followed Alexander-Arnold from his Liverpool breakthrough to his move to Real Madrid in 2025. The conversation about his defending has barely changed, even as his role, league and surroundings have.

Robertson is adamant the label has never matched the reality.

Locking down Europe’s elite

During Liverpool’s surge back to the top of Europe, Alexander-Arnold didn’t just create. He held his own against the very best.

He produced strong defensive displays on the way to the 2018 Champions League final, coping with elite European attacks as a young right-back still learning the position at the highest level.

Robertson hasn’t forgotten.

“I’ve seen him lock out [Kylian] Mbappe at PSG. In the Champions League finals, he was unbelievable,” he said. “Trent is a very, very good defender… [in his] best games, he was an unbelievable one-v-one defender.”

The Scot believes one early narrative has stuck unfairly, shaping the way every later mistake is viewed.

“Now, at times, he maybe makes mistakes. But we all do,” Robertson added. “But it’s if [Trent] had this stigma around him, that he can’t defend. And he’s had that from a very early age. It’s as if he can’t shift it.”

A career at a crossroads

Alexander-Arnold now finds himself in another proving ground.

He has been named in Thomas Tuchel’s latest England squad, a fresh chance to convince a new national-team manager in a role he has never fully nailed down. For all his club honours and highlight reels, a regular starting spot for the Three Lions has remained elusive.

At Real Madrid, the challenge is just as stark. Since his 2025 move to Spain, his La Liga career has stalled, his form dipping and his long-term future at the Bernabeu under scrutiny.

The stigma Robertson talks about hasn’t gone away. The question now is whether Alexander-Arnold can finally bend that storyline to his will – for club, for country, and for a reputation that still doesn’t quite fit the defender his old team-mate swears he is.