John Barnes explains how Conor Bradley is better than Trent Alexander-Arnold in one key area

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Former Liverpool player John Barnes has heaped praise on Conor Bradley and explained how he is better than Trent Alexander-Arnold.After Alexander-Arnold left for Real Madrid, the Reds had a major hole at right-back.Jeremie Frimpong was brought in to replace the Dutchman, but the Liverpool full-back has been injured for much of 2025/26 so far.Join our newsletter for news & smart analysis. In his place, youngster Conor Bradley has stepped up and now come in for high praise from Barnes.Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty ImagesWhy Trent Alexander-Arnold is better than Conor BradleySpeaking to Liverpool.com, the ex-forward stated that the Northern Ireland international is a better defender than Trent.Barnes went on to say that while Bradley may not be as good going forward, Liverpool’s change of style means he doesn’t need to match Alexander-Arnold on that front.He said: “I think that he [Bradley] is a better defender [than Alexander-Arnold].

Yes, he can come forward in a different way to Trent; he’s not going to be as creative in long passes, but he doesn’t have to be.“He has to be his own person, his own player. So he doesn’t have to feel he has to come in and do what Trent did.“You saw his performances, particularly against Real Madrid, how good he is defensively.

And we have enough creativity not to need our right-back to be the most creative player on the field as maybe Trent was.“He’s young, he’s inexperienced and he’s trying to fill big shoes. But I have no fears that he has a bright future.”Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty ImagesWill Conor Bradley or Jeremie Frimpong start vs Nottingham ForestPep Guardiola praised Bradley after Manchester City beat the Reds 3-0 prior to the November international break.Troy Deeney disagreed about the Liverpool defender, making a pretty harsh claim about his inconsistency.However, it’s likely we will see Bradley in from the off against Nottingham Forest regardless of his recent form.Frimpong is on his way back from injury, but Slot was unable to provide an exact timeline for his return when giving an update before the Man City match.He said: “Alisson for sure.