Gary Neville urges Liverpool player to ‘knuckle down’ after some ‘difficult moments’ v Arsenal
Gary Neville has claimed that one Liverpool player endured some ‘difficult moments’ during the 2-2 draw against Arsenal on Sunday.
The post-match narrative has been dominated by the audible jeering of Trent Alexander-Arnold from many in attendance at Anfield when he came on as a substitute midway through the second half.
He took the place of Conor Bradley, who could be in line to nail down a regular starting position at right-back from next season with his elder positional colleague leaving at the end of his contract this summer.
What did Neville say about Bradley’s performance against Arsenal?
Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast shortly after the final whistle yesterday, the Sky Sports co-commentator felt that Liverpool’s number 84 still has a learning curve to navigate if he’s to become Arne Slot’s first-choice pick in his position in future years.
The ex-Manchester United defender said: “Conor Bradley had difficult moments in this game today and he’s really got to knuckle down now and take that position. His name was sung by the Kop when Trent Alexander-Arnold came on.”
Bradley started well but found second half much tougher
The 21-year-old’s performance mirrored that of Liverpool as a whole on Sunday – excellent in the first half, less so after the interval, but nonetheless having his name sung by the Anfield faithful throughout his 67 minutes on the pitch.
A thundering challenge on Gabriel Martinelli in the opening minute went down very well among the home fans, and he kept the Arsenal attack at bay prior to half-time, but he needed to get tighter to Leandro Trossard on the cross for the visitors’ first goal and was also tested by Myles Lewis-Skelly at times in the second half.
Bradley isn’t a total novice but he’s still somewhat learning his trade at the highest level, and like every player at his age, he’ll have a few off-days in among a series of progressive performances.
Despite the critique from Neville, the Liverpool youngster still did plenty right yesterday. As per Sofascore, he won the most duels (eight) and the joint-most tackles (two) of any Reds player and misplaced only three passes all afternoon.
There’s still a firm possibility that Slot will bring in another right-back this summer to compete with the 21-year-old for a starting berth and/or provide some much-needed depth in that position once Alexander-Arnold leaves.
If that were to happen, we’d still back Bradley to meet the challenge head-on, just as he’s done by establishing himself as a genuine first-team option for LFC since his breakthrough in the middle of last season.
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