Liverpool had an opportunity many clubs can only dream of: the chance to mold another elite right-back in the same way Jürgen Klopp once elevated Trent Alexander-Arnold. The ingredients were all there — the system, the environment, and the raw talent. Yet Arne Slot has chosen a different path, one that continues to frustrate fans as the team slips deeper into one of its most troubling periods in recent years.
The problem is obvious. Liverpool’s right-back position has become a constant source of instability, and supporters are growing increasingly frustrated not just with the defensive issues, but with Slot’s refusal to use the player who fits the role most naturally: Calvin Ramsay.
Ramsay arrived as one of the most exciting young full-backs in Scotland — quick, intelligent, defensively disciplined, and technically strong. His profile aligns perfectly with the demands of Slot’s system. But instead of allowing him to grow into the position Liverpool desperately needs, Slot has barely used him.
Instead, he has pushed Dominik Szoboszlai — one of Liverpool’s most consistent midfielders last season — into the right-back role. The consequence has been predictable: a weakened midfield, a disrupted backline, and a tactical shape that breaks under pressure. Supporters are left asking why the manager keeps trying to fix one issue while creating two more.
History makes the situation even more baffling. When Klopp handed a young and unproven Trent Alexander-Arnold the chance to replace the injured Nathaniel Clyne in 2016, it was considered a risk. In reality, it became one of the most important decisions of his career. That trust transformed a teenager into one of the defining full-backs of his generation.
Ramsay is in a strikingly similar position today — but without the belief or opportunity Trent once received.
The consequences stretch beyond tactics. Players feel when they are overlooked. They recognize when a manager does not trust them in their natural position. Confidence fades, performances dip, and the squad begins to absorb the uncertainty.
Liverpool are not just wasting a backup option. They are potentially wasting the development of a high-level right-back who could one day succeed Trent.
Slot’s selections elsewhere only deepen the confusion. Hugo Ekitike, who presses harder, moves sharper, and fits Liverpool’s attacking rhythm more naturally, continues to be sidelined in favour of Alexander Isak, who is still battling to regain fitness and form.
Slot repeatedly chooses what he believes is the safest route. Yet Liverpool’s greatest strides never came from safe decisions. Klopp built an era of success through courage, trust, and a willingness to elevate young talents before they were fully proven. Without that belief, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s career would never have unfolded the way it did.
Which brings the current dilemma into sharp focus:
Why is Arne Slot passing on the chance to develop another Trent?
Calvin Ramsay is ready. Supporters are calling for change. And Liverpool’s defence, consistently exposed and leaking goals, urgently needs a true right-back.
No one wants to see Slot struggle. But unless he abandons this rigid approach and starts trusting the natural talents already available to him, Liverpool risk sinking further — all while the solution sits silently on the bench
