Trent Alexander-Arnold is standing his ground amid criticism (Picture: Getty Images)

Trent Alexander-Arnold feels criticism of his defending is unfair and anyone making the claim that he is a poor defender is just trotting out a ‘lazy’ opinion.

The Liverpool right-back has been a star of Jurgen Klopp’s side for over five years now, but he has struggled to make an impression at international level.

Despite winning the Premier League and Champions League with the Reds, he finds himself down the pecking order in his position for England, behind the likes of Reece James, Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker.

Given how good he is going forward, it appears that it is a perceived weakness in his defending that has cost him international caps, but Alexander-Arnold does not think it is a problem in his game.

The 24-year-old believes it is a cliche that has been aired and now people jump on any mistake he makes to reinforce it in their minds.

‘I think it’s come to a point where it’s the lazy opinion, it’s the lazy thing to say,’ Alexander-Arnold told talkSPORT. ‘People who kind of just watch the game and see what they want to see, there’s that prejudice I believe now.

‘You see what you want to see at the end of the day. If you’re going to a game and you have a perception that a player’s lazy and you see him once not running then in your mind he’s lazy. You don’t see the rest of the game where they’re running around, sprinting around.

‘I suppose that’s where I feel like I’m judged with people going to games or people watch me play football with a preconception of “he’s not a good defender’” or “he can’t defend well” so when I do have that one mistake or that one time someone gets past me then that confirms what they think.

‘At times it feels like it doesn’t matter how well I do because if I’m not perfect then it’s not good enough and I’m held to standards that potentially other players aren’t held to, but that’s life. You’ve got to get on with it.’

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