When Manchester United were last in town at the start of the year, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s alarming performance could at least in part be explained by having his head turned days earlier by official interest from Real Madrid. There was, though, no doubt United had targeted Alexander-Arnold and Liverpool’s full-backs in general as an area to exploit.

Given the wide areas of the defence remain in a state of flux for the Reds this season, United, unsurprisingly, repeated that approach with Milos Kerkez this time the player in their sights.

It was a wise decision. The left-back too often struggled to find an answer, not helped by a succession of wrong decisions in coping with Amad Diallo and occasionally Matheus Cunha.

OPINION

OPINION

Going forward, an understanding with Cody Gakpo down the left just isn’t there at present, although Kerkez must surely be under instruction to resist overlapping.

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