Jurgen Klopp praised Trent Alexander-Arnold’s “super reaction” to Virgil van Dijk’s red card against Newcastle as the 24-year-old captain is in the Anfield squad this weekend.
Liverpool fell within half an hour at St. Down to 10 men at James’ Park when Van Dijk’s challenge on Alexander Isak was ruled out for a goal-scoring opportunity.
Alexander-Arnold, appointed as the club’s vice-captain in the summer, was the man who took the armband from Van Dijk after his sacking.
The 24-year-old suffered a shaky start himself, picking up a second yellow card after a challenge on Anthony Gordon inside five minutes.
However, he responded positively to the adversity, with Klopp admitting he considered taking the right-back off the bench in the first half.
“I think a lot of people would have thought, and I thought for a minute or two, do we have to change him? Do we have to make that change already? And I’m very glad I didn’t,” the boss. accepted
“I think we can all agree that everyone in the stadium, apart from the Liverpool fans, wanted to send him off in the next situation, and I’m pretty sure that would have happened if Trent had given someone the opportunity to do that. ”
Alexander-Arnold will lead the team at Anfield for the first time when Aston Villa visit this weekend in the absence of Van Dijk. Klopp described the Newcastle appearance as a “big step in his development” and said he hoped Alexander-Arnold would be “honoured” to lead the side on Sunday.
“It’s definitely a big step in his development that he stayed calm and even got ahead in the game because he was so into it, no” he continued.
“It’s hard for me to think about myself in that situation [as captain]. I was captain and it was more a job than an honor as I remember it, but it probably would have been a great honor for him, but thank God he practiced. it last week .
