Trent Alexander-Arnold decision has given Arne Slot another Liverpool problem to solve

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Now, though, the Reds are having major problems filling the hole left by Trent Alexander-Arnold jumping ship to Real Madrid during the summer.Almost £30million was splashed out on taking Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen to compete with Academy graduate Conor Bradley for the role.But it says much that Dominik Szoboszlai, a midfielder by trade, has been Liverpool's most impressive performer this season in a position where both Joe Gomez and Wataru Endo have also had brief stints.READ MORE: Liverpool sent January message over Marc Guehi transfer amid Virgil van Dijk fearsREAD MORE: Ibrahima Konate released from France squad as Liverpool injury concerns continueFollowing in the footsteps of such an integral player as Alexander-Arnold was never going to be a straightforward task, particularly for a new arrival such as Frimpong experiencing the Premier League for this first time despite coming through the ranks as a youngster at Manchester City.The Holland international hasn't started a league game since being ruled out for a month with a hamstring problem sustained on his top-flight debut against Bournemouth on the opening weekend.And former Liverpool defender Glen Johnson says: "I wonder if he’s a bit nervous and overawed by coming into a club like Liverpool."That would be understandable, and he has big shoes to fill as he’s replaced Trent Alexander-Arnold."But if that’s how he feels, he needs to forget about it all and concentrate on what he’s doing. He needs to show why Liverpool signed him and give the same performances he was in Germany."We haven’t seen enough of the player who excelled for Bayer Leverkusen.

He’s known for his attacking play, but I haven’t seen that quality at all yet."For Bradley, the challenge is somewhat different, instead attempting to live up to the expectations he helped generate when making a concerted breakthrough into the Liverpool first team at the start of last year.Similar to Frimpong, the 22-year-old's cause hasn't been helped by an injury that forced him to sit out part of pre-season and continued an unwanted trend of the defender suffering hamstring issues at key moments, such as the one that ruled him for a month having against Real Madrid last campaign and another spell on the sidelines around the League Cup final loss to Newcastle United and the Champions League exit against Paris Saint-Germain.Indeed, it's easy to forget Bradley has made just 20 career Premier League starts. You know, what he said was right, to be honest."I don’t like it when managers do that, really.

It’s a bit strange to do it in public, but I don’t think he meant it in a negative way."You just signed the player for a lot of money, he’s only played a few times and is still settling in. So it would be a crazy time to go in harshly on the player."I think he was doing it to be positive, and the risk is it hasn’t been taken that way by Frimpong."