Saturday’s win at Crystal Palace was obviously notable for Liverpool for the three points, a temporary 10-point buffer down to fifth and for yet another Mohamed Salah goal, but there was also another talking point: the return of Nathaniel Clyne to the squad.
The right-back didn’t make it onto the field and hasn’t played a single minute for the first team all season, but his return to availability was both well-timed and potentially vital for the Reds’ hopes across the remainder of the season.
Not because Clyne is that good—his time at Liverpool has been mostly decent, quietly effective, but not as spectacular or consistent as (on a shorter time scale) Andy Robertson has been on the opposite flank, for example.
But because in his absence, two young defenders have in turn flourished and enjoyed increased game time, but have also struggled with the demands on them at times: Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez.
Both the younger Englishmen are obvious talents, in rather different ways. Gomez is usually selected for the bigger games, slightly more experienced as he is, while he’s also a more steady option defensively, whereas the athletic and explosive Alexander-Arnold is a real weapon moving into the final third.
But, as at Selhurst Park for example, Alexander-Arnold has struggled against some elite wide men, pacy players who repeatedly run in behind him. It’s natural, given this is his first full campaign and he’s a more offensive-minded player, but it can also cost the Reds goals at the back.
But, as at Selhurst Park for example, Alexander-Arnold has struggled against some elite wide men, pacy players who repeatedly run in behind him. It’s natural, given this is his first full campaign and he’s a more offensive-minded player, but it can also cost the Reds goals at the back.
Meanwhile, Gomez has gone down with injury and will at least miss the Champions League quarter-final ties with Manchester City. Clyne’s return, whether he starts those games, comes on as sub or features in between against Everton, lessens the burden on Alexander-Arnold to produce relentlessly top-class displays every few days, a consistency which many teens can struggle to produce at this stage of their career.
But Gomez will return to fitness soon enough of course, just as Clyne himself is reaching peak sharpness no doubt. What then?
Clyne’s presence will still be key for Liverpool, and valuable to both youngsters.
Gomez may well end up seeing game time at centre-back, a position most see him developing into over the coming seasons. And Alexander-Arnold needs to be managed, brought in and out of the team as opposition situations dictate, rather than demanded everything and more of before he’s really learned the craft at the top level.
As great as his volume of game time is this season, exposing him week after week and him finding a bad run of form, making mistakes and being blamed, could be hugely detrimental. It has been imperative for Klopp to switch over between he and Gomez across the season so far, and so it will be going forward for now.
Then there’s Clyne himself to consider: for too long, the Reds have had very little competition for places at right-back. It has been Clyne or nobody, and no reason for him to push himself to his limit and beyond. It’s unlikely that he’ll suddenly come back into the team to the extent that he’s able to force his way into the England squad in the space of half a dozen matches, but the World Cup is a pretty good incentive to at least try.
In a longer-term outlook, he will have watched the growth and development of his two positional rivals and know they have better longevity for the club than he does, even if at 27 years of age—as he turns in a few days—he’s not exactly ready for the scrapheap.
Clyne can bring a steady presence at the back, an outlet down the flank and, at his best, still offer delivery into the final third. That will take time to come of course, requiring minutes—and it’ll be difficult to judge his suitability given the big games approaching—to rediscover rhythm, and it’s also still to be seen if he forms a quick rapport with the all-important Mohamed Salah ahead of him.
But it’s crucial Klopp has options in all areas of the pitch in this vital stage of the season, and that perhaps goes twice for the position where, until Clyne’s return, the most inexperienced member of the squad would otherwise have been the last man standing.
