"Come at a decent time" - Trent Alexander-Arnold sends message to Liverpool teammates after Leeds United loss
Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold has deemed next month's 2022 FIFA World Cup break to be vital for their campaign after his team's recent 2-1 loss against Leeds United.
The Reds slumped to a second successive Premier League defeat to a relegation-threatened team at Anfield on Saturday (29 October).
Rodrigo Moreno pounced on a Joe Gomez miss-pass in the fourth minute to hand the visitors an early lead. Mohamed Salah restored parity ten minutes later after successfully converting Andy Robertson's cross.
However, Crysencio Summerville scored the winner in the 89th minute to inflict on Liverpool a first home defeat of the season.
Last week: Nottingham Forest 1-0 Liverpool
Today: Liverpool 1-2 Leeds
Back-to-back league losses against relegation-zone teams 😐 https://t.co/AIMaZQ1Ei2
Speaking to LFCTV, Alexander-Arnold shared his thoughts on his team's fourth Premier League defeat of the ongoing campaign. He said:
"It's difficult to take. You never want to lose at home – something we pride ourselves on. For us, we want to win as many games as we can. It's a disappointing result.
"We created enough chances to go and win that game but in football, you get punished for not taking your chances. We've been punished."
He asserted that the squad is currently in need of a regroup and hoped that the mid-season break will serve them in good stead. He added:
"I think it's important for us to regroup, assess what's going wrong. I think right now, it's kind of, 'Pick up as many points as you can now going into this break.'
"And potentially, this break will come at a decent time for us to reset and be able to get our heads straight to go into the second half of the season."
Alexander-Arnold also claimed that the Reds will try to put things right in their upcoming Premier League trip to Tottenham Hotspur, scheduled for Sunday (6 November). He concluded:
"Clearly as a team something's not going right. That's something for everyone to address and make sure we put it right, especially next week against Spurs, top-four rivals.
"We kind of need to go there and get some points if we've got any chance of reaching our aims and aspirations for the season."
Liverpool are currently ninth with 16 points from 12 games.
🗣 "The boys tried, really tried."
Jurgen Klopp shares his thoughts on tonight's game https://t.co/JP6M80tRNx
Liverpool suffer from fatigue, injuries and loss of form under Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool finished second last season with a staggering 92 points from 38 games, having lost just twice in the Premier League. However, the club have recently endured their worst start to a campaign under Jurgen Klopp, already losing five times across all competitions.
With two crucial forwards sidelined until the 2022 FIFA World Cup and a hapless defense on show, the Reds are currently a shadow of themselves. Moreover, first-team players like Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson have failed to emulate their usual form in the ongoing season.
After playing a whopping 63 matches last campaign, the Merseyside outfit are also currently suffering from a severe case of fatigue. A lack of summer investment in crucial positions like center midfield and wide forward has also affected their fortunes this campaign.