27 August 2023 , 23:00
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Former Liverpool forward Ryan Babel has called on Jurgen Klopp to ditch Trent Alexander-Arnold in the wake of the full-back's poor performance against Newcastle.
The Reds left St James' Park with all three points courtesy of a late double from Darwin Nunez despite the fact that they had been playing with 10 men for over an hour after Virgil van Dijk was given his marching orders in the first half by John Brooks.
Prior to Van Dijk's dismissal, Alexander-Arnold was fortunate to avoid seeing red himself; minutes after being cautioned for throwing the ball away, the Liverpool right-back pulled down Anthony Gordon to prevent the Newcastle winger from surging past him on the break, but escaped a second yellow card.
That incident occurred just before Alexander-Arnold was caught napping for the Magpies opening goal, as a routine pass from Mohamed Salah slipped under the full-back's foot to gift Gordon an easy chance.
And although Liverpool - and Alexander-Arnold - rallied to complete a second half turnaround, Babel called for Klopp to make a change at right-back on social media, posting: "We need to fix that RB position asap..".
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After being appointed as the Reds new vice-captain in the summer, Alexander-Arnold took on the armband after Van Dijk's dismissal. Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe was adamant that the full-back should have also seen red, though, after the match. He fumed: “You don’t want to see players get sent off but I thought the ref got that one wrong. Two key moments, that and the Van Dijk red card, and the first one was wrong.
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Alexander-Arnold was at fault for Newcastle's goal and was fortunate to avoid being sent off (Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC)“We are not looking at that as being the reason why we didn’t win the game, let’s be clear that falls on our laps. But that moment was particularly frustrating for us.”
When Alexander-Arnold himself was pushed on the incident involving Gordon, he admitted that the decision could have gone either way. Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, he said: “It’s always difficult. Especially when you’re away from home, they [decisions] can go against you. It was a bit of a mistake from me and it didn’t help with the crowd on top of me and the team.
“Me and the team are experienced in these things, we have played in difficult environments and have been able to pull through. To leave here with three points is a very good thing.”