Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold can't shake off BIZARRE myth

A bizarre Trent Alexander-Arnold myth simply refuses to go away. What does the Liverpool star need to do to dispel it?

Trent Alexander-Arnold can't play at right-back for England, you see. He's really good going forward, clearly, but you need to be able to defend and he simply can't.

Okay, England can get away with it against the likes of Finland but put Alexander-Arnold into a big game at right-back and he'll get found out. You can't win big games against top players with the Scouser at right-back.

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Roy Keane is the latest to rehash this line about Alexander-Arnold. It's been the go-to for pundits looking to explain why England can't use Alexander-Arnold and need to stick with Kyle Walker or Kieron Trippier.

“I can’t believe how bad he is defensively, and against better teams of course he’ll be found out,” is exactly what Keane said.

It's reasonable to believe that Gareth Southgate believed it, too, given he essentially refused to play Alexander-Arnold in major tournaments. Certainly not from the start in knockout games.

And it's bizarre that anyone would believe this.

Trent Alexander-Arnold in big games

You would think that Alexander-Arnold was a young player for a middling Premier League side. Instead, he's an experienced defender who has actually played and won more 'big games' than every other player in the England squad.

And if we want to get technical and ruffle feathers, he's actually played and won more big games than Roy Keane. Keane, after all, was integral in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in 1999 where Manchester United got past Juventus.

Keane played his heart out, despite knowing the yellow card he picked up would suspend him from the final. The biggest game of his career was that semi-final and he was brilliant. He'd never win another one.

Alexander-Arnold has won three Champions League semi-finals. Like Keane, the most famous moment of his career was in one - when he played against Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez (really good players, actually) and produced the assist for the aggregate winner while keeping a clean sheet.

Keane never played in a Champions League final. Alexander-Arnold, again, has played in three - and won one. No one could possibly blame him for the two defeats to Real Madrid.

It is demonstrably false that Alexander-Arnold would get found out in big games. He has played in a ton of them, far more than the average international player, winning the vast majority. He's been up against some of the best players and teams of all time and beaten them.

It seems impossible, then, for Alexander-Arnold to disprove the myth. If he could, he'd have done it by now but apparently, numerous Champions League finals and massive Premier League fixtures aren't quite big enough.

They're just not Slovakia in the Euros Last 16. They'd have probably found the way past Alexander-Arnold that Messi couldn't.