Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s body language spoke volumes after his missed chance to win Liverpool the game against Arsenal, and he knows it was a shot that had to be put away.
Mo Salah with the counter and suddenly the Reds were in a race toward goal, and in a a five-on-two situation you were just waiting for the net to welcome the ball at the Kop end.
Instead, Alexander-Arnold found the crossbar from close range and it proved the final big chance of the match for Liverpool with 15 minutes left on the clock.
At full-time, the right-back immediately put his head in his hands, and in his interview with Sky Sports, his reaction to a question he would have expected said everything.
A resigned look accompanied a wry smile as the chance was mentioned, and while he felt the ball sat up on him, the vice-captain knows they are the chances he has to finish.
“I think it bobbled just as I’ve gone to hit it, it’s one of them I need to score,” Alexander-Arnold explained.
Liverpool RATTLE the crossbar! pic.twitter.com/wVhhgp56aY
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 23, 2023
“It’s a position I don’t find myself in too often but, you know, if you’re on goal like that you need to be finding the back of the net.
“It was close, but as a team I think we created our chances and on a different day, a decision or two that goes our way as well.”
The decision he is obviously alluding to is Martin Odegaard’s handball that was not punished either on the field or with the help of VAR, who have since provided a bemusing explanation for dismissing the penalty shouts.
“From a Liverpool perspective, that’s bound to be a handball from our point of view,” the No. 66 said on the matter.
“The decision didn’t go our way for whatever reason, and that probably gets us back into the game and gets us another goal if we put it away.
“From our point of view, we see it as a penalty, but decisions didn’t go our way.”
