Trent Alexander-Arnold feels ready as Liverpool frustrate Arne Slot – 5 talking points vs Spurs

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM, NORTH LONDON // Liverpool will have to come from behind in the second lap of its Carabao Cup tie with Spurs thanks to a late goal from Lucas Bergvall.

Rodrigo Bentancur was carried off after a lengthy delay in the first half. The Uruguayan landed awkwardly while attempting to head the ball from a corner, with Spurs confirming during the match that he is conscious and receiving medical attention, with all fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.

In another difficult night for Liverpool, the Reds are behind in the tie, while Ange Postecoglou’s men have gone ahead. Here are the five things Liverpool.com discovered as the game unfolded.

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Conor Bradley and Kostas Tsimikas return

With Trent Alexander-Arnold having a nightmare at the worst possible time against Manchester United, accusations that he was distracted were inevitable. There’s certainly a strong case to be made that he needed another outing from here to put things right quickly, but Slot had other ideas.

Twenty one year old Conor Bradley came in from the start, with the Liverpool boss explaining before the game that he simply wanted to get minutes in the legs – and rest Alexander-Arnold – after a period in which he was unable to do either of those things. Bradley certainly looked like he needed minutes. He grew into the game, but he started very slowly.

On the opposite side of his defense, Slot agreed Kostas Tsimikashe said for the same reasons. The Greek left-back is largely second in the pecking order but Andy Robertson not having the easiest season. In fact, the heat was taken off him last weekend when Alexander-Arnold was so poor.

Tsimikas also looked a bit rattled and nearly fouled Dominic Solanke with one of his first touches. He too improved as the first half wore on, but it was a far from convincing show. He will benefit from the report.

First half injury concerns

Bentancur going down as he did was a horrible sight and his teammates knew something was wrong right away. After a long period of treatment on the field, he was carried off with lots of medical attention. Everyone will be crossing their fingers that it’s not as bad as it seemed.

In a disrupted first half, Jarell Quansah also went out, and was replaced by Wataru Endo. Ibrahima Konate was among the substitutes, but the Frenchman is just back from injury and clearly could not last an hour or more. Quansah and Joe Gomez are now out, which is far from ideal – but in fairness, Endo did pretty well in his place.

Diogo Jota is working his way back

Begins the season as number one, going in the middle of Slot’s attack, Diogo Jota had not started for Liverpool since the Chelsea match in which he was injured in mid-October. He has come off the bench in six games since recovering, but the Portuguese striker has had to be patient.

He had to make sure he didn’t lose his patience here too with his touch off and his passing miles away from its usual level. He looked very much as if he had been thrown in from the cold, as was the case with Bradley and Tsimikas.

Like the full-back, Jota will benefit from getting the minutes. It won’t be a bad thing that he got some decent action under his belt. In relation to this match, Luis Diaz might have been the better option, although Arne Slot will think more long-term.

Trent Alexander-Arnold feels ready

Entering the second half for half an hour or so, Alexander-Arnold played considerably better than he did against Manchester United. Honestly, he couldn’t have been much worse.

It was timely with so much talk around him at the moment. He was hit a few times by his man, but showed plenty of will and desire to fight back.

The outfielder made his feelings clear straight away when he came on, chanting his name and bellowing about “the Scouser in the team”. A few minutes later a brilliant shot by him was cleared off the line. This was definitely a step in the right direction.

The condition of the tie

With Accrington Stanley on the road at the weekend, there was absolutely no reason for Liverpool to make any changes to their starting line-up here. In the case of the first-choice full-backs, none of them played well against Manchester United and could argue with being benched.

Other than that it was exactly what you would expect. Alison Becker got the nod in the goal — probably because Caoimhin Kelleher gets the weekend’s game and Slot doesn’t want his number one to be too out of rhythm by not playing two in a row – and Diogo Jota, who comes into the forward line, is hardly a step down in quality.

However, it did not show on the pitch. When the teams meet in the second leg at Anfield on Thursday, February 6, Liverpool will need to come from behind. Slot and his staff grew increasingly frustrated on the sidelines that his plan was not being executed; his side have work to do in the second leg.