A respected Liverpool reporter revealed Trent Alexander-Arnold was subjected to a foul-mouth comment after his role in Manchester United's opener at Anfield.
Lisandro Martinez put the Red Devils in front with a rasping strike just after half-time but Alexander-Arnold didn't cover himself in glory. He gave away the ball cheaply in the build-up and then was sluggish in getting back in to make amends when Bruno Fernandes fed Martinez.
Days after Real Madrid reportedly had a £20 million bid rejected, Alexander-Arnold produced a display that was well below his usual level and United targeted him down his side.
Conor Bradley replaced Alexander-Arnold in the 86th minute not long after he received a yellow card.
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With the recent speculation about his future, some Liverpool fans appear to have turned on the England international.
According to Lewis Steele, Merseyside football reporter for the Daily Mail, one supporter near the press box shouted, "If you don't wanna be here Trent, f*** off!" after United's first goal went in.
Another fan at the game claimed Alexander-Arnold was told to ‘f**k off out of here" by a fan, while he also stated that the 26-year-old looked a "troubled soul" on the bench after being subbed off.
His performance and ongoing contract situation dominated much of the post-match analysis on Sky Sports, where Jamie Carragher, Daniel Sturridge and Gary Neville were involved in a heated debate and Roy Keane urged Alexander-Arnold to move to the 15-time European champions.
The panel did discuss whether Alexander-Arnold had been affected by the recent Real rumours and the possibility of it having an impact on his performance.
But Arne Slot refuted any talk of a mentality issue for Alexander-Arnold. While he admitted it wasn't his "best game", he defended his play and said the combination of Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot was difficult to contend with on his flank.
Arne Slot leaps to Alexander-Arnold's defence
“I think Trent has played mostly very good games for this club," Slot told Sky Sports.
“There probably have been games that he wasn’t on his best; today wasn’t his best game, but that probably had something to do with them as well.
“Especially in the first half, sometimes Ryan wasn’t close enough to him, so he was sometimes in a two-vs-one situation as well.
“I would put it more on the performance of Dalot and Bruno Fernandes than it being down to Trent.”
Liverpool are back in action on Wednesday when they take on Spurs in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final, before they host Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup on Sunday.
Topics: Liverpool, Manchester United, Champions League, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Josh Lawless