Trent Alexander-Arnold, the former right-back of Liverpool, appeared for the first time with Real Madrid in the opening match of the Club World Cup, which ended in a 1-1 draw with Al Hilal Saudi, and his performance was subjected to harsh criticism from the Spanish media.
“My first day with Real Madrid was great, which is what almost every player dreams,” Alexander-Arnold told “Dazen” after the match.
He added, “I am incredible, I felt support from the moment I joined the club. It is amazing. A great fan base all over the world. You feel it every day.”
But the Spanish media launched a scathing attack on Arnold in his first appearance with “Los Blancos”.
He did not appear comfortable
In the context, Sergey Cadvilla – in the Sport newspaper – wrote that “Xabi Alonso put him in the center of the back, but he never appeared comfortable and did not create any feature.” He gave him the evaluation of 10/5, and in the same way, JL Calderon of Marca newspaper said that “this was not the best start of the English player, who did not perform an offensive performance.”
He added that “he lacked offensive brilliance and had some defensive weaknesses. The match was slow, and the match ended by canceling a goal for Al Hilal for offside.”
On the other hand, the correspondent Joel del Rio – in the direct broadcasting blog of matches on the newspaper site itself – wrote, “I do not know how you saw this on TV, but Trent’s exit from the stadium during the counted attack of the Hilal amazed me.”
I struggle to leave a trace
As for Lucas Cardinas, he wrote on the Divins Central website that he had talked about Trent Alexander-Arnold before his first appearance, but he was disappointing; he was not in his best defensive, and he struggled to leave an offensive trace before replacing him.
“It was not the best start for him. Some of his passes were fragile, and he was subjected to attacks weak,” he added.
“It was a wonderful first participation in the Club World Cup, as the former Liverpool player recently joined the club. He faced some difficulties in the first half, but he was good in dispersing the ball with his feet that were similar to the glove.”
Out of its center
For his part, Kayan Sabhani from the “Real Madrid Administration” website watched the match in Miami, and explained his opinion on Arnold’s performance on their YouTube channel: “I think his performance was disappointing in his first match, it was a somewhat difficult match, offensive, was not the same even though he passed an important pass at the beginning of the goal.”
“I think his touches and passes seemed inaccurate, some of his passes were unnecessarily postponed,” he added.
He continued, “Defense, he is outside his position, this is not surprising. But I wanted to refer to the extent of the first half, because in the stage of building the attack, Trint plays the role of the inverted right back, that is, he moves to the center of the center as an outlet .. In this case, if the team loses the ball, your right back comes out of the image immediately.”
A very weak presence
“The presence of the player’s presence is very weak, he lacks defensive talent,” Fernando S Taviro wrote to the newspaper AS.
He added, “Real Madrid contracted him to be decisive in building the attack … Sometimes, he tried to appear between the lines in the center of the center, ahead of the other three defenders, but without any real impact.”
It is more powerful
Not all observations were negative, as one of the journalists from “Mundo Deportivo” saw that his level improved with the progress of the match, and wrote: “The English player appeared for the first time essentially with Real Madrid, and his level developed until his physical condition declined.”