Jurgen Klopp says why Trent Alexander-Arnold was substituted and explains Liverpool role change

Jurgen Klopp admitted that Liverpool failed to use Trent Alexander-Arnold to his maximum in the loss against Arsenal.

The Reds were comprehensively defeated 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium, which slashed their lead at the top of the Premier League to two points.

Liverpool mustered just one shot on target throughout the game despite having more possession throughout. There was a first start in six games for Alexander-Arnold after his recovery from a knee injury.

However, instead of being deployed in a hybrid right-back/ midfield role, the vice-captain largely featured on the flank before he was substituted in the 57th minute for Andy Robertson.

Klopp admitted that the Reds failed to find Alexander-Arnold consistently enough throughout the game despite getting into some decent positions. And the fact that he's only just back to full fitness is why the England international was brought off prematurely.

The Liverpool manager told reporters: "First half, Arsenal started well, that's clear. We didn't play enough football, we needed to get used a little bit to each other, like the right-side triangle – [it was] tricky to find, let me say it like that. From the start, always when Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] and Curtis [Jones] were on the ball and could turn and could get out of this man-marking situation the pitch was really open for us. There we could have found Trent [Alexander-Arnold] one or two times more often, I would say: that could have caused them even more problems.

"Actually, second half we were there, we now understood how the game goes. We now had the momentum after the late equaliser in the first half, but then we concede a second goal – and it was a very strange goal. Now we spoke in the dressing room with all people involved and it is just unlucky. Can you head the ball directly? Yes, but it flies strange. Then, should you expect Martinelli brings the body a little bit? Yes, but we didn't and then all of a sudden the ball rolls there and he has an easy goal. That doesn't happen very often, will not happen very often, but it happened before and can happen. It obviously made the job a bit more tricky.

"We made changes as well around that time. Trent, [it] was never planned that he plays 90, it was clear we had to take him off a bit early and stuff like this. [We] brought on Darwin [Nunez] and Harvey [Elliott] and these kind of things. It all could have worked, but then the 2-1 is obviously not great, the momentum changed completely again, the stadium was there.

"It was still kind of an open game with not a lot from us – and then we had a red card and that obviously made it really tricky to come back. Arsenal deserve the three points, there is no doubt about that: they scored three and we had one shot on target, so that's obviously the one stat that shows the most. We should have had more of that, we could have had more of that, but because of the story of the game it didn't happen."