ReactionTrent Alexander-Arnold assesses Liverpool's draw at Chelsea
Trent Alexander-Arnold assessed what Liverpool can build and improve on after they began the new season with a 1-1 draw at Chelsea.
The Reds were in the ascendancy in the early stages of Sunday’s Premier League clash as Luis Diaz put them in front and Mohamed Salah was denied a second by a narrow offside.
But the hosts came back to level through Axel Disasi and also had an effort disallowed via VAR when Ben Chilwell netted before the break.
Post-match, vice-captain Alexander-Arnold gave his reaction to the result to Liverpoolfc.com at Stamford Bridge. Read the interview below…
On whether it was the kind of opening game of the season Liverpool expected…
Yeah, definitely: intense, quick against difficult opposition. It was kind of what we expected, [it’s] always difficult coming to Stamford Bridge and we expected a difficult game and that’s what we got. [We] take the point, no shame in that; we could have won the game but we also could have lost it, so we take the point.
On what changed after the Reds had the better of the opening 20 to 25 minutes…
The disallowed goal and then obviously they score, that changes the game. At a place like this, the atmosphere and the momentum shifts and from that point on they kind of controlled everything. I think there was a point in the game when we all kind of realised that this was a game that we don’t want to lose rather than we want to go and win. So although we kept attacking and we wanted to try to win it, it was make sure defensively we’re sound, we work on it as a unit and there’s no shame in playing for the point at a certain time.
On the team’s defending under pressure on the day…
They asked questions, they have got really good attackers and they have tried to break us down, but I think we defended really well. I think the two centre-halves were outstanding especially in the way that they dealt with their attacking line. At times they are exposed because of the system and the way that we play but they dealt with it really well and they were in positions to cover.
On the belief Liverpool will improve game by game…
For sure. The first game of the season is never really that smooth – there’s always things to work on and keep getting better at. There’s no difference today. We performed at a decent level, it was a decent result, a lot of things to work on but at the same time you take the point and go and build on it next week at home.