Trent Alexander-Arnold making 'big steps' at Liverpool, says Jurgen Klopp
Tuesday 26 December 2017 21:41, UK
Jurgen Klopp said Trent Alexander-Arnold is "making big steps" after he scored his first Premier League goal for Liverpool against Swansea on Boxing Day.
The 19-year-old scored Liverpool's third in the 65th minute as they cruised to a 5-0 win at Anfield.
Klopp said: "I am really happy for him, it's a nice story. The first half was not fantastic for Trent as well [as the rest of the team], but second half he stepped up and played really well.
"In training he has made big steps in the last few weeks and months and that's really important for us. He is nice player."
Alexander-Arnold had family over from America watching in the stands, and Klopp said with a smile: "Last week his mother was in the office with our sports director and told me the whole family from America is over. 'Is that an order for the line-up?' I asked her."
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Klopp also had a chat with Alexander-Arnold on the pitch after the game, revealing that he told him he needed to get up quicker after falling down.
"As a defender you cannot stay on the ground. The arm of [Jordan] Ayew touched a little bit the face of Trent, but as long as the nose is not broken or the nose is still where you think it should be you have to run again," he said.
"For a defender especially, it's not possible to do that. That's all. But he is young enough to learn a lot of things, even though he is quite good in a few."
Reflecting on the game, which saw Liverpool score four times in the second half after Philippe Coutinho's early opener, Klopp added: "The last half an hour was brilliant, the first 60 minutes was work.
"Swansea are a different team to the others, they didn't have a lot of chances but they play really good football and the plan is good. You need to be really compact, especially after you lose the ball.
"We had the ball a lot and passed a lot and we should have had more counter-pressing situations, which is very important in a game like that. Confidence grows in a game like this and then you can do nice things, but first of all you need to be ready for really hard work and we were."
