July 2, 2020 • 45 mins
Liverpool FC’s star right back Trent Alexander-Arnold is fueled by what his jersey stands for because for his entire life he's played for this home town. At just six years old, he entered the Liverpool Academy and grew with the team until he earned a spot with Liverpool FC. Trent is a hyper intelligent player, able to dissect defenses with his technical ability. After a hiatus due to COVID-19, Trent and his teammates won the English Premier League title for the first time in 30 years. Hear Trent discuss his dedication to a life of Liverpool football, his training process and what a Premier League title means to the city he calls home.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
We were champions of Europe and champions of the World
without being Champions of England, which is which is quite
a weird thing to think about. For me, I've always
wanted the Premier League. It's a full season, it's nine months,
it's it just feel as though it's harder because you
(00:21):
have to be more consistent. The Champions League is a
special competition. Everyone knows that it's every player's dream to
play in it. It's every player's dream to actually win
it and to be a part of it, and it's
probably the most special competition that there is. But I
imagine the feeling of winning the Premier League will be
(00:44):
a different kind of feeling because of what it actually takes.
Welcome to the Only Ways through a collaboration between Under
Armour and Our Heart Radio Episode seven, Alexander Arnold, You'll
Never Walk Alone and Athletes. Jersey is bigger than words
(01:08):
sewn into Fabruary. It carries with it the pride of
the city, the hopes and dreams of his fans, every
glorious win, every devastating loss, all contained in each thread
stitched and on game day, assembling into a movie breathing
wall of energy for Liverpool Football. Club a sea of red.
(01:31):
Liverpool's right back Trent Alexander Arnold is fueled by what
his jersey stands for, because for his entire life he's
won his hometown on his back. At six years old,
he entered the Liverpool Academy and eventually earned a spot
on the pros with the Liverpool Football Club. But he's
more than just a hometown hero. He's made a name
(01:53):
for himself as a hyper intelligent player able to dissect
defense is with his awareness of the game and technical ability.
When COVID shut sports down across the world, few were
hit harder than Liverpool. The Boys in Red were two
games away from their first Premier League victory in three decades.
(02:14):
The fans were hungry, the players were restless, but the
season stood at a stand still for nearly three months.
Liverpool waited, itching to finish what they started. On June seventeen,
gameplay resumed and a few days later the weight was over. Liverpool,
We're finally champions. Trent was a critical element for Liverpool
(02:35):
to Lanta's well deserved prize because of his ability to
make big time plays when the pressure is on. Some
of those plays will go down as the most memorable
in Liverpool's history. Cow sat down with Trent a few
(02:59):
weeks before the Premier League resumed in Liverpool earned their
well deserved trophy. Here's Cow and Trent. I gotta start
by asking you to describe the corner kick that you
made against Barcelona in the Champions League semifinal. You take
three steps, like you're walking away from the corner, and
(03:20):
then you quickly take a half step and then come back.
What was going on in your head the moment you
took that quick half step and this is all going
on in like about a second of time. In football
and in every sport, really, it changes so quickly from
(03:47):
when I'm walking away, so when I look, so when
I go and hit the ball, people have changed position,
people have looked away just split seconds. The picture changes
all the time. So I knew that once I had looked,
(04:10):
and I've seen it, just I don't know why I've looked.
I don't know what for what reason I've loved, and
I knew by the time I get back to the
corner and hit it, things might have changed. Because the
(04:30):
picture that I've seen as of love was that Dave
Op was free and if I can get them the ball,
it could be a goal. The instincts and the time,
and then everything just merged into one amazing moment. If
I had seen it three steps later, I wouldn't have
(04:51):
been close enough to take it quickly. If I'd seen
it two steps earlier, I would have been too close
to take it quickly. I just feel as though everything
in that moment was just meant to be once again,
to Alexander Arnold up against Sergey Roberto. Still Alexander Ronald
(05:15):
Cornibal so well done, really well. Trends twelve minutes to
go in normal time, Liverpool three. Now call it take
a quickly reggae reggae? Oh my well, this is delirium.
(05:42):
I failed. Have you ever heard noise like this? Last? Like?
We were all feeling so down, won't we Let's be honest,
but well, don't listen to that. I don't leave that.
Tell you what that means. It's music to my easty
m H. Now I want to read you a quote
(06:06):
from the martial artist Bruce Lee. He said, adapt what
is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is
specifically your own. And I was hoping to see your
life through that quote. Here's a question I asked Christiano Ronaldo,
(06:29):
and it made him flash his eyes up because he
didn't know the answer immediately. What was the first time
you can remember kicking a ball? The first time? I couldn't.
I couldn't put a specific moments on it. But I
(06:52):
remember playing really on with my older brother, so yeah,
I couldn't say, well, a's exactly, but imagining about four
or five years old. But I imagine we were playing
you from earlier than I can even remember, from when
I could I could even walk or be able to
(07:13):
kick a ball like that, when I imagine I was
kicking a ball. Do you remember when you got your
first ball of your own? Did you love it? How
did you feel about the ball as a kid, It
went as though we had five balls in the house,
or one or two, maybe even just one, and if
that ball was lost because we lived on a main
(07:34):
road like literally our house, a wall, a little bit
of grass and then the busiest road in Liverpool, so
as you can imagine, it was just it was traffic
all the time, cars flying past, and if we hit
the ball into the road, then go under the cars
(07:56):
and they drag it along the roads of the big times.
When it be gone, be gone, and you didn't know
where your ball was. It could have slipped down a
side street, it could have kept going. Does that teach
you to pass carefully, to shoot carefully? Definitely? Definitely, because
(08:17):
because like I said, the walls, the walls were in
six ft walls, they were waist height. With the shots
and stuff like that, we have to take a bit
less power off in it was more about placement and
more about tricking each otherm to go on the other
way and stuff like that. So it was less about
power and more about just trying to hit hit it
(08:37):
as far as we count in the corner. Oh, you
said the magic word, the magic word tricken, tricking. I
want to just bring you forward a moment to describe
the corner kick against Barcelona. Steve Hunter is the official
commentator for Liverpool. You heard him a few minutes back
(09:00):
as he commentated that historic moment live what Liverpool won
the Champions League semifinal. But only hours prior, it seemed
hope was lost for Liverpool. Barcelona had won the previous
game three nail at home. Because in Champions League scoring
is cumulative, Liverpool had the daunting task of scoring four
(09:21):
goals to zero against the great Lionel Messy and the
rest of Barcelona at Anfield, Liverpool's home turf. Someone call
that impossible, unthinkable against that team at this moment in time,
but Liverpool has a knack for proving people wrong. Well.
(09:41):
Our commentry positions on basically on the roof of fund
trails in the standard high up with a great few
of the copping. You can feel it. You can feel
because the belief said, wow, is this really happening. It's
like it has to be seen as the moments of genius.
It goes to three nails. So what that means Liverpool
have now produced an incredible comeback Liverpool of Claude those
(10:06):
three goals back. So this is now well and truly
game on comebacks and Liverpool Football Club go together. That
was the optimistic sign that Liverpool going into that game
thought yeah, we can score a few goals here, but
it's got to be the perfect night. Going into that game,
(10:26):
it had to be the perfect night. You couldn't concede,
so Liverpool had to win four nil. You could go
three nil and then take it into extra time because
then the scores would have been level. Teams don't do
that to Barcelona. This young man gives Trent this ball
quickly and for Trent Alexander Arnold, one of our very
own a Scouser to do that, It's incredible and full
(10:50):
credit to Devaka Regie as well. He's finished it magnificently.
It's a goal that nobody will we'll ever forget. It's
an incredible moment. It went to full nil. You get
to the final whistle and it's just one of one
of pure elation. It's one of pure emotion as well.
(11:12):
It's raw emotion and it's a night know what, body
will ever forget. It's amazing people they still see it
on YouTube and they still leave notes. Uh. Somebody wrote
if this doesn't give you goose bumps, you live in Manchester.
(11:36):
Someone else wrote, whenever I'm down, I watched this video
to prove nothing is impossible. I was wondering what was
going in your mind and you just said the word tricken.
I'm wondering does this go back to when you were
a little kid? If I'm honest, I would say so.
(11:57):
I would because as a kid, even still now, I
do anything to win that meant maybe a little bit
cheating or anything, I'd try and win so when we
were playing, I hit the ball off the wall, try
to maybe a sneaky hundball. Anything I called to to
(12:20):
try and win, I would do so um And I
suppose in that moment of the corner I probably had
that childlike mentality of there was no pressure, there was
there was no fans, there, there was no one else there.
It was just that moment of I've seen an opportunity,
(12:43):
like I've seen as a kid, and like I maybe
seen in training, there's the opportunity to win, so I
had to take it. Ian barragain is the head of
pre academy recruitment for Liverpool and sees talent and ability
early on. He's able to see potential and the future,
(13:04):
and at age six he saw Trent cal sat down
with Ian to share what he saw in this young man.
As time is progressing, are there certain moments that stand
out in your mind if you were looking back, that
told you, Wow, he may be even more special than
(13:26):
I thought when he was six I always been. When
he was eighteen, we got a little store. I always
say to his mom. We played in the game and
then we were winning four milk four mil We had
a corner and said can I take the corner? If
I take the corner, so we knew you would win
(13:47):
the game. So I said, yeah, you can take the
corner something, but if they score, it's your fault. So
a bit chunking cheeks, ain't it too him? But you no, No,
I'll take it. I'll take it. Takes the corn. We've
got no defender. Since the defense has got no defender,
take takes the corner. As he knocks the ball, and
this kid heads to the ball out, he goes through
(14:07):
yards and he said, and you can see trend and
treads running back and realizing that this kid scores, it's
gonna be his fault and I would wind him up
to death over there. And the kid just knocks the
ball ahead of trends to go in on the goalkeeper
and send you score like that, just takes the kid out,
give the foul away. And I just turned to his mother,
and he'll play for the pool some day. The awareness
(14:29):
of the game, the import of where the kid was.
Trent just knew that he went No way was that
kid on the side of the score. But you just
don't really usually get that. In a seven. You're okay,
you're okay, and you know, he sort of smiled as
well that he'd done it and he needs what he'd done.
I think he got a yellow card for it, but
he was like happy, but so the smike that he
(14:50):
was like but it was a brilliant moment. The brilliant moment.
What a about reject what's useless? Are there things that
you've seen yourself reject to get the most out of yourself?
(15:13):
Might be in the way you train, Things you have
to give up in order to be your best. I'd
say this the sacrifices. There is sacrifices, and on the pitch,
I don't think you can say that this anything that
you've got is not needed. So I wouldn't reject any
(15:37):
ability that I've got or anything that can do. So
it's more off the pitch, which is probably the most
that's probably the place where are probably matured and developed
over the last two years is off the pitch and
becoming a top professional not just the top football player.
(15:59):
For a professional seven player athlete, there's times to have fun,
and there's time to celebrate, and there's times to relax,
but also in your mind, you know that you've got
to go to bed, That sitting time because you've got
training in the morning. You can't be up on like
playing PlayStation. You because you've got training in the morning.
(16:20):
You can't be out with your friends till all hours
in the morning. And there's things that you can't do both.
It's just routine. So now a flower with without even
know when I'm questioning yourself, is this gonna be useful
for me? Is this gonna help me? Is this gonna
make me? Train better? Always tomorrow? And the question, the
(16:44):
questions always have an answer, and you know yourself better
than anyone else whether it's gonna help you or it's
gonna restrict your Paul Winsburgh is the director of Athlete
Performance under Armored. Paul fellow Country May, a former Newcastle
United fitness coach, knows exactly what it takes to play
(17:05):
football at the highest level for his country. Here's Paul.
You think about somebody like Trent. I mean he's he
made his debut really young. He's still only twenty one
and I think he's made over a hundred appearances. You know,
when we start to build programs for apl players, So
guys playing at the highest level in the sport globally,
(17:27):
you know you you realize it's it's more difficult than
you initially think because these guys are running, you know,
ten eleven, twelve kiloment as a game, they're playing for
two blocks of forty five minutes. That it's it's maximal
intensity sprints and then short periods of recovery. They have
to jump, they have to slide, they have to tackle
this physicality and you having to prepare the athletes for
(17:49):
all of that. I think with Trend, you've also got
to remember he's a local boy. He's a Liverpool guy,
born and bread, so there's a huge emotional piece attached
to that as well. You know, he's not a guy
that's flown in from another country and he doesn't really
understand what Liverpool Football Club means to the community. This
guy really understands. So that is another burden on on
(18:11):
Trend of that emotional pressure. I think we've got to
also acknowledge the guys at an absolute phenom as a
as an athlete and as a player technically and tactically.
You'd think the guy had played the sport for twenty
years at the highest level. What he can see in
the game and see the game unfold. He plays in
one of the most difficult positions. So this, this kind
(18:33):
of new wing back position that's developed recently in the
Premier League is not the traditional fallback that kind of
sits back in defense. He's just bombing on constantly overlapp
and up and down, up and down. You think about Trent,
He's playing Liverpool domestic, he's playing Champions League, he's playing
(18:55):
in domestic cups, not just the Premier League, and he's
playing for England. So this young guy is not really
getting a break. It really is play recover, play recover.
But for me, it's more about creating the the ability
(19:17):
to turn up every week not injured, not taking huge
time out of the game, and it's allowing him to
develop at the pace that he's developed that and it's
not just about grind, grind more and more. It's really
it's it's almost like chemistry. You're trying to look at
the perfect blend of all of these different attributes of
(19:40):
when do we have an opportunity, when do we need
to have the hard days, when do we ease back,
how much strength is enough strength, and then how much
is just wasting energy in the gym doing squads for example.
So it's really starting to understand the demands of the
game and then getting those athletes prepared for that. When
I first started to train with the first team, that's
(20:06):
when I started to see how they were able to
be so intense every day, and that's because of what
they're they went off the pitch, when they're in the gym,
what they're eating, when they're an ice bath, when they're
stretching everything. So at first I was training, but for me,
(20:29):
I was just watching everything that they were doing because
these two months, a month earlier, I was in the
stands watching, watching these and then now I'm training, I'm thinking,
how do I go from being in the stands to
being on the pitch as as quickly as I can.
It weren't a matter of just picking up what they
(20:51):
were doing on the pitch. I wanted to know what
they were doing, what time they were going to sleep,
when they were waking up. I wanted to know everything
that it that it talks. So for me, that was
that was a moment of being able to actually see
what it took to become the best, to become a
(21:14):
real football player. Um I started playing, I were't used
to playing this amount of games. I went used to
playing at such a high level, so I was getting tired.
I was making late mistakes. I was maybe only playing
seventeen minutes instead of ninety. I weren't able to play
two or three games in a week. I was only
(21:36):
able to play one because I couldn't recover quick enough.
It took time, it took a routine, it took a
lot um. So that was another moment, but the biggest,
I'd say that the biggest moment for me and the
probably the best lesson I probably ever lance in football.
(21:56):
And the the was a game Man United and I
was against Rashford and he scored two. I said one
goal was definitely my fault, deal of goalie score. But
I remember being on the pitch. I remember these are
arch rivals, so this is a massive game. The media
(22:19):
hyper up and I remember the feeling I had after
the goals and coming off the pitch, and it was
the feeling of I've let my family down, I've let
the club now, I've let me teammates down, I've let
fans down. I have a feeling that I just never
ever wanted to feel again. So it was in that
(22:42):
moment that I thought I can't let this happen again,
and need to improve. I need to make sure that
I don't feel like I've let everyone down and we've
lost because of me. And I know it's not going
to go my way every time and it's not possible
to win every day free now. So I knew that boat.
(23:06):
I wanted to get as close to being in control
as I could. For me, it was a It's the
hardest lesson I had to land, but it's by far
the best lesson I've ever I've ever been taught. When
when you look at that now, are you glad it happened? Yeah? Yeah,
(23:26):
even though it went a game that A brag about
or shout about, or I know that I needed it
and I wouldn't be the player today. I wouldn't be
at the level I am today. I wouldn't have progressed
as much as I have. I'm happy that it happened
in that game than it in a bigger game. Yeah.
(23:47):
And getting back to the corner kick against Barcelona. The
beauty of this, or the sadness to me is when
I'm watching the replay, I am not seeing your face,
so I don't know the look you're giving off to
every other player could you do you remember what it
(24:09):
was like. I get that question a lot, as you
can imagine, a lot of people say was it meant?
Had you practiced it? And the answers, no, it was
just but I weren't meant to take the corner in
training and everything. We had our routines, and the routine
was for me not to take it from that side.
So I'm on the corner, I put it down and
(24:30):
I went to walk away to my position. So all
the emotions and thoughts and feelings and body language in
that moment are a hundred percent genuine because in my head,
I'm not taking the corner either, so I'm walking away genuinely.
And there was no one including myself, my family and brothers,
(24:51):
every person on the pitch. The manager didn't know, I
didn't know. No one knew, not even Divo, who score
something must have told them to just taying around and look,
because if he doesn't do that, then I've just passed
the ball to no one. But it was It feels
as though it was just one of their moments that
(25:12):
it just clicked, and it's just a special moment in
so many different ways. People that I've talked to in
Liverpool tell me that you see the game differently than
anybody else. Do you have that feeling? Um? Yeah, at times,
(25:35):
I think because when I was growing up in the academy,
I played a lot of positions, so I feel as
though I can appreciate the positions. So when I get
the ball, I can't know where everyone is and should
be and will be before I get it, and then
there's a feeling of sometimes I can pass the ball
(25:57):
without even looking because I understand where someone is and
understand where they shall be. I remember Kobe Bryant telling
me that there were times where the game actually slowed down,
like he could see things happening like in slow motion,
only he was moving faster than everybody else. Do you
(26:18):
get that feeling? Sometimes Sometimes I feel as though I'm
thinking ahead of others, so I'm maybe a few steps ahead,
so I might have to slow down a little bit.
There's times when I know a space is going to
(26:42):
be there before it is, but I need that space
to open up and then the teammates to go into
that space. But I already know that space is going
to be there, But if I play it at the
speed that I know it's there, that space isn't there,
So sometimes I need to slow it down. Wow, does
(27:02):
it make it more special in Liverpool where you grew up? Uh?
From what I understand, like on in your mom's car
as a kid, trying to see the players and pulling
off that moment, that little trickery that's so overwhelms everybody
(27:25):
around you. Is there is there something about that happening
in your home that makes it incredibly special? Yeah? Obviously. Yeah.
It's just to be a part of the club. The
team is the most special thing I could ever describe. Really,
(27:48):
it's every single day of growing up just thinking on
wanting to achieve this. To feel as though being in
a part of something so special that people will remember
for a long time and people will never forget. Two.
(28:09):
Give people feelings and emotions and take them to a
moment of pure happiness and joy is indescribable. Really, you
can't buy that. You can't. I don't. With something so
small like a football, a corner, just a corn kick
(28:30):
can make people feel like they can achieve anything, And
that for me is like a lot of people in
the industry would say, is art. Maybe just people can
look at a picture and get feelings. People can watch
a film and get feelings, can listen to music and
get feelings. Hopefully people can think of that moment and
(28:53):
realize that everything is achievable. John Gibbess helps Run and
Feel RAP, a Liverpool FC media collective based in Liverpool.
(29:17):
John and his team created podcast, video shows, and audio
commentary to give fans access to each game and their
beloved Reds. Here's John. I'm gonna go back a little
bit if you don't mind, because I think it's important
to have the context of what it means for all
of us to have a young guy from Liverpool on
the pitch because throughout Liverpool's history that hasn't always necessarily
(29:42):
been the case, and so when we get one, we
hold them very daily for us trends, he's the scouting
on the pitch, He's the one who's living our dreams.
And every kid in Liverpool grows up dreaming of being
a footballer. For most of us, we quickly realized that
that is just a dream and that's not gonna happen.
(30:02):
So when when a kid breaks through like Trent, did
you know, it means a lot to us because it's
it's inspiring every kid you know in this city that
that they think, well, I can play for Liverpool too,
because Trend's done it. He's the scouting on the pitch
live in our dreams, you know. I was watching a
video of you being interviewed by nine year olds who
(30:26):
had just been signed by Liverpool and one of the
kids asked you do you have a private plane? And
you're The look on your face was really revealing because
it said, why do I need a private plane? Everything
I've ever wanted is under my feet? Is is There?
(30:53):
Is there something about being nine years old and being
signed by your hometown team that is memorable, very very
very very memorable. I remember my son and I yesterday. Yeah,
I remember obviously going up to the Academy sign and
(31:13):
I was signed with Jamie Carriger, who at the time,
with Gerard was the local lads and the team. They
were the ones that always inspired me. They were the
the two that I always looked up to and pretended
to be and wanted to be, And there the two
(31:33):
players who showed me that everything is possible, we can
just be from our little neighborhoods in our amazing city.
I always admired them to more than more than any
other players. Jamie Carriger was an inspiration for Trent as
a young man. He's a fellow scoucer, a one club man,
(31:55):
playing for Liverpool for seventeen years and leading his team
to Mini troll. He's a long way Jamie was even
there Trends signing day years ago. Here's Jamie. Sometimes you
look at someone and you just look the part for
whatever it is, whether it's a film role, to play
professional football, to play basketball, whatever is. You look at
someon you think, yes, that's that looks the part. And
(32:19):
whenever I see Trent and I look at him in
the kids, he just looks the exact physique. He would
want his physical attributes as technical attributes you'd want someone
to play with and you'd want someone to have. I
don't think anyone in this country right now is It's
probably better placed as an example of what an academy
(32:40):
can do for a for a young football at really
in terms of trend because he's almost reinventing in a
position really, but his technical ability, and I think a
lot of that will come from the fact that he
was actually training three or four times a week from
such a young age. I was possibly playing on the street,
which is great, and he's still picking up your your
tips and you know, learning your techniques and your skill.
But it is completely different than getting proper culturing. Really,
(33:03):
and I think the technical abilities these young players coming
out of a caddies and that was fast superior to
what we you were producing the eighteen nine twenty And
as I said, only there's any bigger example right now
in Santaxlander Arnold is that the grounded nature a big
(33:26):
part of what makes Trent successful massively. His mom was
so grounded that was a really really exciting player, one
of the best players of the team every year, and
every year that I would get the vocal off Diane
saying is he gonna get cats? Is he gonna get released?
And I would laugh, How do you're not going to laugh?
You really think he's gonna get least? Well, you don't know,
he said. You just think it's the best thing to slicepread.
(33:48):
You just tell me he's great all the time. Then
coaches might not like it. You just think he's great.
She would remind Trend all the time, this should end somebody.
You need to make sure you work hard. You don't
know what's going to happen. You need to make sure
you this I'm saying from six or seven all the time,
keeping his feet on the floor, you know, as good
as your last pass. No, I mean all the time,
(34:11):
all the time. Back to caw and Trent. We're in America.
Many people may not know what what the meaning of
the word scouts or what's your definition. I'd say what
I always say is that scouts are very very passionate
(34:32):
and what they've believe in, and whether that be politics, art, music, football, makeup,
whatever it is, they are in on it and they'll
argue day in, day and night for what they believe in.
So having to football teams in the in the city
(34:54):
is something that's probably quite quite rare, and to have
two sets of fans that are so passionate is also rare.
So wherever you go and whoever you come across, there's
just passion and optimism and a sense of desire and
hunger and wanting to achieve and wanting to succeed, and
(35:16):
wanting to make others feel better and make others feel
like things are achievable, and want't everyone within the city
to succeed. Evident supporters aren't going to like me at all.
I understand that boat as a scout set. They wouldn't
(35:36):
want to see me not playing. That's probably the best
way I can to say is that they're probably glad
that people from Liverpool are playing four teams in Liverpool,
which is a good sign for the city. Jamie character
cently find this. Who knows if you'll finish his career
at Liverpool. We don't. We don't know that yet because
(35:58):
at times it will be tough. At the moment is
going absolutely out of this world for trend's best team
in the world, best team in the country, European champions,
all this, but it won't be like that forever. You know,
it can change very quickly. There they big questions, ask
about different things, or the team are doing well, maybe
his own form and that's where that character and creative
(36:18):
you know, the Liverpool people come through. I think every
football team or baseball team, basketball team, American football, wherever
it may be, I think it's going to represent that
city and every city's difference, the team transplaining and now
there's that bond between the team and the supporters. I
(36:39):
just think because the energy of the manager, of the
energy the team obviously the quality you know, and you
look at that team. You think they're all good lads them.
There's no bad apple, there's no rotten egg in there.
We've had a few of them at different times when
I was playing. But you look at the team now
and they all just look like people. You think, Yeah,
you want them in that red Shire. You want them
paying for Liverpool, you want them fighting for you on
(37:01):
the pitch. And it's been a long time since we
have the Liverpool So you not represented the city so
well do you? When you look at your team now,
You've got players around you that seemed to perfectly complement
what you do. You know, you've got Andy Robertson, You've
(37:23):
got Van Dyke that are there for you if you're
moving up the field, that they're covering for you. Has
has this team been a way to get the best
out of you? Does everybody know that you're going to
be running up the field and we've got to protect
(37:45):
the downside? Uh? In case? It's it's an environment based
on freedom and creativity. That's from the manager. That's the
environment he has created. That's the way that we play
(38:09):
when we're out there, and the way that we've adapted
our style is somehow I don't know how but it
feels as though everyone can play to their strengths. No
one's got limitations because of tactics. Everyone can can express
(38:31):
themselves in the way that they want to without limitations.
And that's because of If one person wants to go
and express themselves and they feel as all that's the
right thing for the team, then we've got such good
players that it's gonna it's gonna make us better, it's
going to create a chance to score, or it's going
(38:53):
to create trouble for the opposition. So why put a
limit on it. Let's try and create as much chaos
and topic we can with the sense of responsibility on
sensibility as well. And here's a question that can only
(39:14):
come from somebody across the pond in the United States,
because if you're a big soccer football fan, you know
the difference between the Premier League in the Champions League.
Uh But and it seems a little crazy if you don't,
because you can actually be the champion of the Premier
(39:37):
League but not the champion of the Champion League. And
you can be champion of the Champion League without being
champion of the Premier League. What are all these games
the same to you or does winning the Premier League
means something different principally because Liverpool hasn't wanted and early
(40:00):
years or so. Yeah, so we were champions of Europe
and champions of the World without being champions of England,
which is which is quite weird for me. I've always
wanted the Premier League. I've always thought it was harder
(40:22):
to win the Premier League, just because in the Champions
League you can get you can get through one on
a bit of look, it's the look of the draw.
You might get easier draw to knock out game away
goals in the In the Premier League, it's a full season,
(40:44):
it's nine months. It's it just feel as though it's
harder because you have to be more consistent. The Champions
League is a special competition. Everyone knows that it's always
been a dream to win that. It's every player's dream
to play in it. It's every play a dream to
actually win it and to be a part of it.
And it's probably the most special competition that there is
(41:07):
for the fans, for the players, for everyone. The Champions
League is the elite. But I imagine the feeling of
winning the Premier League will be a different kind of
feeling because of what it actually takes. So there you are,
it looks like your team is at the cusp of
(41:27):
winning your premier league and then the coronavirus kicks in.
What what do you thinking and feeling through all of this?
And and the other thing about it is, can you
imagine playing a game at home with no fans? There's
(41:49):
there's been so many thoughts and feelings over the last
ten of twelve weeks. But yeah, it's been difficult, as
you can imagine, so close to something so special and
it's being put on pause for so long. It's it's
like someone cooking your favorite meal and saying, no, you
(42:09):
have to wait until tomorrow to me to while while
you sit there and smell it and watch it and
you can almost taste it. But it is one of
it is. It will be a season that will be
remembered forever, and we want to try and make it
a specially as we can. We want to win the
(42:30):
season that all this happened. We want to be able
to tell our kids about our grandchildren that not only
did we beat everyone else in the league, but we
also beat coronavirus at the same time. Who who else? Who?
What other team can can say that I don't. It's
(42:55):
music to my m HM. When I had this moment
(43:20):
of our is just a single split moment of whoa
I'm actually living this. So I was I was speaking
to Okly Chamberlain and we were just having like a
little joke and stuff which messed around, and then we
started talking about like the academy and how we got
involved and how we got to Southampton and how I
(43:44):
was at Liverpool. And as I was just talking it
was I started to like really realized what I'm actually doing.
So it's for someone to be able to say that
they came through an academy and he played for that
(44:04):
team is so so special, Like it's very rare that
you go from a young age all the way up
and you play for that team, and then two be
at the same team that I've been at from six
to all the way and then make it up to
the best team and then now being the best team
(44:26):
in the world. I don't know if there's many people
that can say that there's nothing that I would change.
What else could I even ask for? Right now, I'm
playing for the best team in the world with some
of the best players in the world with the best
manager in the world. I've got a family at home
that's safe, I've got friends that are safe. And it
(44:48):
was in that moment that I just got a little
bit maybe emotional, and it was in that moment of thinking,
I thought like, this is the actual dream. Yeah, this
has been The only way is through a podcast collaboration
(45:10):
between under Armour and I Heart Radio. Join us next
time to hear more stories of athletic performance and what
it means to push yourself through
We were champions of Europe and champions of the World
without being Champions of England, which is which is quite
a weird thing to think about. For me, I've always
wanted the Premier League. It's a full season, it's nine months,
it's it just feel as though it's harder because you
(00:21):
have to be more consistent. The Champions League is a
special competition. Everyone knows that it's every player's dream to
play in it. It's every player's dream to actually win
it and to be a part of it, and it's
probably the most special competition that there is. But I
imagine the feeling of winning the Premier League will be
(00:44):
a different kind of feeling because of what it actually takes.
Welcome to the Only Ways through a collaboration between Under
Armour and Our Heart Radio Episode seven, Alexander Arnold, You'll
Never Walk Alone and Athletes. Jersey is bigger than words
(01:08):
sewn into Fabruary. It carries with it the pride of
the city, the hopes and dreams of his fans, every
glorious win, every devastating loss, all contained in each thread
stitched and on game day, assembling into a movie breathing
wall of energy for Liverpool Football. Club a sea of red.
(01:31):
Liverpool's right back Trent Alexander Arnold is fueled by what
his jersey stands for, because for his entire life he's
won his hometown on his back. At six years old,
he entered the Liverpool Academy and eventually earned a spot
on the pros with the Liverpool Football Club. But he's
more than just a hometown hero. He's made a name
(01:53):
for himself as a hyper intelligent player able to dissect
defense is with his awareness of the game and technical ability.
When COVID shut sports down across the world, few were
hit harder than Liverpool. The Boys in Red were two
games away from their first Premier League victory in three decades.
(02:14):
The fans were hungry, the players were restless, but the
season stood at a stand still for nearly three months.
Liverpool waited, itching to finish what they started. On June seventeen,
gameplay resumed and a few days later the weight was over. Liverpool,
We're finally champions. Trent was a critical element for Liverpool
(02:35):
to Lanta's well deserved prize because of his ability to
make big time plays when the pressure is on. Some
of those plays will go down as the most memorable
in Liverpool's history. Cow sat down with Trent a few
(02:59):
weeks before the Premier League resumed in Liverpool earned their
well deserved trophy. Here's Cow and Trent. I gotta start
by asking you to describe the corner kick that you
made against Barcelona in the Champions League semifinal. You take
three steps, like you're walking away from the corner, and
(03:20):
then you quickly take a half step and then come back.
What was going on in your head the moment you
took that quick half step and this is all going
on in like about a second of time. In football
and in every sport, really, it changes so quickly from
(03:47):
when I'm walking away, so when I look, so when
I go and hit the ball, people have changed position,
people have looked away just split seconds. The picture changes
all the time. So I knew that once I had looked,
(04:10):
and I've seen it, just I don't know why I've looked.
I don't know what for what reason I've loved, and
I knew by the time I get back to the
corner and hit it, things might have changed. Because the
(04:30):
picture that I've seen as of love was that Dave
Op was free and if I can get them the ball,
it could be a goal. The instincts and the time,
and then everything just merged into one amazing moment. If
I had seen it three steps later, I wouldn't have
(04:51):
been close enough to take it quickly. If I'd seen
it two steps earlier, I would have been too close
to take it quickly. I just feel as though everything
in that moment was just meant to be once again,
to Alexander Arnold up against Sergey Roberto. Still Alexander Ronald
(05:15):
Cornibal so well done, really well. Trends twelve minutes to
go in normal time, Liverpool three. Now call it take
a quickly reggae reggae? Oh my well, this is delirium.
(05:42):
I failed. Have you ever heard noise like this? Last? Like?
We were all feeling so down, won't we Let's be honest,
but well, don't listen to that. I don't leave that.
Tell you what that means. It's music to my easty
m H. Now I want to read you a quote
(06:06):
from the martial artist Bruce Lee. He said, adapt what
is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is
specifically your own. And I was hoping to see your
life through that quote. Here's a question I asked Christiano Ronaldo,
(06:29):
and it made him flash his eyes up because he
didn't know the answer immediately. What was the first time
you can remember kicking a ball? The first time? I couldn't.
I couldn't put a specific moments on it. But I
(06:52):
remember playing really on with my older brother, so yeah,
I couldn't say, well, a's exactly, but imagining about four
or five years old. But I imagine we were playing
you from earlier than I can even remember, from when
I could I could even walk or be able to
(07:13):
kick a ball like that, when I imagine I was
kicking a ball. Do you remember when you got your
first ball of your own? Did you love it? How
did you feel about the ball as a kid, It
went as though we had five balls in the house,
or one or two, maybe even just one, and if
that ball was lost because we lived on a main
(07:34):
road like literally our house, a wall, a little bit
of grass and then the busiest road in Liverpool, so
as you can imagine, it was just it was traffic
all the time, cars flying past, and if we hit
the ball into the road, then go under the cars
(07:56):
and they drag it along the roads of the big times.
When it be gone, be gone, and you didn't know
where your ball was. It could have slipped down a
side street, it could have kept going. Does that teach
you to pass carefully, to shoot carefully? Definitely? Definitely, because
(08:17):
because like I said, the walls, the walls were in
six ft walls, they were waist height. With the shots
and stuff like that, we have to take a bit
less power off in it was more about placement and
more about tricking each otherm to go on the other
way and stuff like that. So it was less about
power and more about just trying to hit hit it
(08:37):
as far as we count in the corner. Oh, you
said the magic word, the magic word tricken, tricking. I
want to just bring you forward a moment to describe
the corner kick against Barcelona. Steve Hunter is the official
commentator for Liverpool. You heard him a few minutes back
(09:00):
as he commentated that historic moment live what Liverpool won
the Champions League semifinal. But only hours prior, it seemed
hope was lost for Liverpool. Barcelona had won the previous
game three nail at home. Because in Champions League scoring
is cumulative, Liverpool had the daunting task of scoring four
(09:21):
goals to zero against the great Lionel Messy and the
rest of Barcelona at Anfield, Liverpool's home turf. Someone call
that impossible, unthinkable against that team at this moment in time,
but Liverpool has a knack for proving people wrong. Well.
(09:41):
Our commentry positions on basically on the roof of fund
trails in the standard high up with a great few
of the copping. You can feel it. You can feel
because the belief said, wow, is this really happening. It's
like it has to be seen as the moments of genius.
It goes to three nails. So what that means Liverpool
have now produced an incredible comeback Liverpool of Claude those
(10:06):
three goals back. So this is now well and truly
game on comebacks and Liverpool Football Club go together. That
was the optimistic sign that Liverpool going into that game
thought yeah, we can score a few goals here, but
it's got to be the perfect night. Going into that game,
(10:26):
it had to be the perfect night. You couldn't concede,
so Liverpool had to win four nil. You could go
three nil and then take it into extra time because
then the scores would have been level. Teams don't do
that to Barcelona. This young man gives Trent this ball
quickly and for Trent Alexander Arnold, one of our very
own a Scouser to do that, It's incredible and full
(10:50):
credit to Devaka Regie as well. He's finished it magnificently.
It's a goal that nobody will we'll ever forget. It's
an incredible moment. It went to full nil. You get
to the final whistle and it's just one of one
of pure elation. It's one of pure emotion as well.
(11:12):
It's raw emotion and it's a night know what, body
will ever forget. It's amazing people they still see it
on YouTube and they still leave notes. Uh. Somebody wrote
if this doesn't give you goose bumps, you live in Manchester.
(11:36):
Someone else wrote, whenever I'm down, I watched this video
to prove nothing is impossible. I was wondering what was
going in your mind and you just said the word tricken.
I'm wondering does this go back to when you were
a little kid? If I'm honest, I would say so.
(11:57):
I would because as a kid, even still now, I
do anything to win that meant maybe a little bit
cheating or anything, I'd try and win so when we
were playing, I hit the ball off the wall, try
to maybe a sneaky hundball. Anything I called to to
(12:20):
try and win, I would do so um And I
suppose in that moment of the corner I probably had
that childlike mentality of there was no pressure, there was
there was no fans, there, there was no one else there.
It was just that moment of I've seen an opportunity,
(12:43):
like I've seen as a kid, and like I maybe
seen in training, there's the opportunity to win, so I
had to take it. Ian barragain is the head of
pre academy recruitment for Liverpool and sees talent and ability
early on. He's able to see potential and the future,
(13:04):
and at age six he saw Trent cal sat down
with Ian to share what he saw in this young man.
As time is progressing, are there certain moments that stand
out in your mind if you were looking back, that
told you, Wow, he may be even more special than
(13:26):
I thought when he was six I always been. When
he was eighteen, we got a little store. I always
say to his mom. We played in the game and
then we were winning four milk four mil We had
a corner and said can I take the corner? If
I take the corner, so we knew you would win
(13:47):
the game. So I said, yeah, you can take the
corner something, but if they score, it's your fault. So
a bit chunking cheeks, ain't it too him? But you no, No,
I'll take it. I'll take it. Takes the corn. We've
got no defender. Since the defense has got no defender,
take takes the corner. As he knocks the ball, and
this kid heads to the ball out, he goes through
(14:07):
yards and he said, and you can see trend and
treads running back and realizing that this kid scores, it's
gonna be his fault and I would wind him up
to death over there. And the kid just knocks the
ball ahead of trends to go in on the goalkeeper
and send you score like that, just takes the kid out,
give the foul away. And I just turned to his mother,
and he'll play for the pool some day. The awareness
(14:29):
of the game, the import of where the kid was.
Trent just knew that he went No way was that
kid on the side of the score. But you just
don't really usually get that. In a seven. You're okay,
you're okay, and you know, he sort of smiled as
well that he'd done it and he needs what he'd done.
I think he got a yellow card for it, but
he was like happy, but so the smike that he
(14:50):
was like but it was a brilliant moment. The brilliant moment.
What a about reject what's useless? Are there things that
you've seen yourself reject to get the most out of yourself?
(15:13):
Might be in the way you train, Things you have
to give up in order to be your best. I'd
say this the sacrifices. There is sacrifices, and on the pitch,
I don't think you can say that this anything that
you've got is not needed. So I wouldn't reject any
(15:37):
ability that I've got or anything that can do. So
it's more off the pitch, which is probably the most
that's probably the place where are probably matured and developed
over the last two years is off the pitch and
becoming a top professional not just the top football player.
(15:59):
For a professional seven player athlete, there's times to have fun,
and there's time to celebrate, and there's times to relax,
but also in your mind, you know that you've got
to go to bed, That sitting time because you've got
training in the morning. You can't be up on like
playing PlayStation. You because you've got training in the morning.
(16:20):
You can't be out with your friends till all hours
in the morning. And there's things that you can't do both.
It's just routine. So now a flower with without even
know when I'm questioning yourself, is this gonna be useful
for me? Is this gonna help me? Is this gonna
make me? Train better? Always tomorrow? And the question, the
(16:44):
questions always have an answer, and you know yourself better
than anyone else whether it's gonna help you or it's
gonna restrict your Paul Winsburgh is the director of Athlete
Performance under Armored. Paul fellow Country May, a former Newcastle
United fitness coach, knows exactly what it takes to play
(17:05):
football at the highest level for his country. Here's Paul.
You think about somebody like Trent. I mean he's he
made his debut really young. He's still only twenty one
and I think he's made over a hundred appearances. You know,
when we start to build programs for apl players, So
guys playing at the highest level in the sport globally,
(17:27):
you know you you realize it's it's more difficult than
you initially think because these guys are running, you know,
ten eleven, twelve kiloment as a game, they're playing for
two blocks of forty five minutes. That it's it's maximal
intensity sprints and then short periods of recovery. They have
to jump, they have to slide, they have to tackle
this physicality and you having to prepare the athletes for
(17:49):
all of that. I think with Trend, you've also got
to remember he's a local boy. He's a Liverpool guy,
born and bread, so there's a huge emotional piece attached
to that as well. You know, he's not a guy
that's flown in from another country and he doesn't really
understand what Liverpool Football Club means to the community. This
guy really understands. So that is another burden on on
(18:11):
Trend of that emotional pressure. I think we've got to
also acknowledge the guys at an absolute phenom as a
as an athlete and as a player technically and tactically.
You'd think the guy had played the sport for twenty
years at the highest level. What he can see in
the game and see the game unfold. He plays in
one of the most difficult positions. So this, this kind
(18:33):
of new wing back position that's developed recently in the
Premier League is not the traditional fallback that kind of
sits back in defense. He's just bombing on constantly overlapp
and up and down, up and down. You think about Trent,
He's playing Liverpool domestic, he's playing Champions League, he's playing
(18:55):
in domestic cups, not just the Premier League, and he's
playing for England. So this young guy is not really
getting a break. It really is play recover, play recover.
But for me, it's more about creating the the ability
(19:17):
to turn up every week not injured, not taking huge
time out of the game, and it's allowing him to
develop at the pace that he's developed that and it's
not just about grind, grind more and more. It's really
it's it's almost like chemistry. You're trying to look at
the perfect blend of all of these different attributes of
(19:40):
when do we have an opportunity, when do we need
to have the hard days, when do we ease back,
how much strength is enough strength, and then how much
is just wasting energy in the gym doing squads for example.
So it's really starting to understand the demands of the
game and then getting those athletes prepared for that. When
I first started to train with the first team, that's
(20:06):
when I started to see how they were able to
be so intense every day, and that's because of what
they're they went off the pitch, when they're in the gym,
what they're eating, when they're an ice bath, when they're
stretching everything. So at first I was training, but for me,
(20:29):
I was just watching everything that they were doing because
these two months, a month earlier, I was in the
stands watching, watching these and then now I'm training, I'm thinking,
how do I go from being in the stands to
being on the pitch as as quickly as I can.
It weren't a matter of just picking up what they
(20:51):
were doing on the pitch. I wanted to know what
they were doing, what time they were going to sleep,
when they were waking up. I wanted to know everything
that it that it talks. So for me, that was
that was a moment of being able to actually see
what it took to become the best, to become a
(21:14):
real football player. Um I started playing, I were't used
to playing this amount of games. I went used to
playing at such a high level, so I was getting tired.
I was making late mistakes. I was maybe only playing
seventeen minutes instead of ninety. I weren't able to play
two or three games in a week. I was only
(21:36):
able to play one because I couldn't recover quick enough.
It took time, it took a routine, it took a
lot um. So that was another moment, but the biggest,
I'd say that the biggest moment for me and the
probably the best lesson I probably ever lance in football.
(21:56):
And the the was a game Man United and I
was against Rashford and he scored two. I said one
goal was definitely my fault, deal of goalie score. But
I remember being on the pitch. I remember these are
arch rivals, so this is a massive game. The media
(22:19):
hyper up and I remember the feeling I had after
the goals and coming off the pitch, and it was
the feeling of I've let my family down, I've let
the club now, I've let me teammates down, I've let
fans down. I have a feeling that I just never
ever wanted to feel again. So it was in that
(22:42):
moment that I thought I can't let this happen again,
and need to improve. I need to make sure that
I don't feel like I've let everyone down and we've
lost because of me. And I know it's not going
to go my way every time and it's not possible
to win every day free now. So I knew that boat.
(23:06):
I wanted to get as close to being in control
as I could. For me, it was a It's the
hardest lesson I had to land, but it's by far
the best lesson I've ever I've ever been taught. When
when you look at that now, are you glad it happened? Yeah? Yeah,
(23:26):
even though it went a game that A brag about
or shout about, or I know that I needed it
and I wouldn't be the player today. I wouldn't be
at the level I am today. I wouldn't have progressed
as much as I have. I'm happy that it happened
in that game than it in a bigger game. Yeah.
(23:47):
And getting back to the corner kick against Barcelona. The
beauty of this, or the sadness to me is when
I'm watching the replay, I am not seeing your face,
so I don't know the look you're giving off to
every other player could you do you remember what it
(24:09):
was like. I get that question a lot, as you
can imagine, a lot of people say was it meant?
Had you practiced it? And the answers, no, it was
just but I weren't meant to take the corner in
training and everything. We had our routines, and the routine
was for me not to take it from that side.
So I'm on the corner, I put it down and
(24:30):
I went to walk away to my position. So all
the emotions and thoughts and feelings and body language in
that moment are a hundred percent genuine because in my head,
I'm not taking the corner either, so I'm walking away genuinely.
And there was no one including myself, my family and brothers,
(24:51):
every person on the pitch. The manager didn't know, I
didn't know. No one knew, not even Divo, who score
something must have told them to just taying around and look,
because if he doesn't do that, then I've just passed
the ball to no one. But it was It feels
as though it was just one of their moments that
(25:12):
it just clicked, and it's just a special moment in
so many different ways. People that I've talked to in
Liverpool tell me that you see the game differently than
anybody else. Do you have that feeling? Um? Yeah, at times,
(25:35):
I think because when I was growing up in the academy,
I played a lot of positions, so I feel as
though I can appreciate the positions. So when I get
the ball, I can't know where everyone is and should
be and will be before I get it, and then
there's a feeling of sometimes I can pass the ball
(25:57):
without even looking because I understand where someone is and
understand where they shall be. I remember Kobe Bryant telling
me that there were times where the game actually slowed down,
like he could see things happening like in slow motion,
only he was moving faster than everybody else. Do you
(26:18):
get that feeling? Sometimes Sometimes I feel as though I'm
thinking ahead of others, so I'm maybe a few steps ahead,
so I might have to slow down a little bit.
There's times when I know a space is going to
(26:42):
be there before it is, but I need that space
to open up and then the teammates to go into
that space. But I already know that space is going
to be there, But if I play it at the
speed that I know it's there, that space isn't there,
So sometimes I need to slow it down. Wow, does
(27:02):
it make it more special in Liverpool where you grew up? Uh?
From what I understand, like on in your mom's car
as a kid, trying to see the players and pulling
off that moment, that little trickery that's so overwhelms everybody
(27:25):
around you. Is there is there something about that happening
in your home that makes it incredibly special? Yeah? Obviously. Yeah.
It's just to be a part of the club. The
team is the most special thing I could ever describe. Really,
(27:48):
it's every single day of growing up just thinking on
wanting to achieve this. To feel as though being in
a part of something so special that people will remember
for a long time and people will never forget. Two.
(28:09):
Give people feelings and emotions and take them to a
moment of pure happiness and joy is indescribable. Really, you
can't buy that. You can't. I don't. With something so
small like a football, a corner, just a corn kick
(28:30):
can make people feel like they can achieve anything, And
that for me is like a lot of people in
the industry would say, is art. Maybe just people can
look at a picture and get feelings. People can watch
a film and get feelings, can listen to music and
get feelings. Hopefully people can think of that moment and
(28:53):
realize that everything is achievable. John Gibbess helps Run and
Feel RAP, a Liverpool FC media collective based in Liverpool.
(29:17):
John and his team created podcast, video shows, and audio
commentary to give fans access to each game and their
beloved Reds. Here's John. I'm gonna go back a little
bit if you don't mind, because I think it's important
to have the context of what it means for all
of us to have a young guy from Liverpool on
the pitch because throughout Liverpool's history that hasn't always necessarily
(29:42):
been the case, and so when we get one, we
hold them very daily for us trends, he's the scouting
on the pitch, He's the one who's living our dreams.
And every kid in Liverpool grows up dreaming of being
a footballer. For most of us, we quickly realized that
that is just a dream and that's not gonna happen.
(30:02):
So when when a kid breaks through like Trent, did
you know, it means a lot to us because it's
it's inspiring every kid you know in this city that
that they think, well, I can play for Liverpool too,
because Trend's done it. He's the scouting on the pitch
live in our dreams, you know. I was watching a
video of you being interviewed by nine year olds who
(30:26):
had just been signed by Liverpool and one of the
kids asked you do you have a private plane? And
you're The look on your face was really revealing because
it said, why do I need a private plane? Everything
I've ever wanted is under my feet? Is is There?
(30:53):
Is there something about being nine years old and being
signed by your hometown team that is memorable, very very
very very memorable. I remember my son and I yesterday. Yeah,
I remember obviously going up to the Academy sign and
(31:13):
I was signed with Jamie Carriger, who at the time,
with Gerard was the local lads and the team. They
were the ones that always inspired me. They were the
the two that I always looked up to and pretended
to be and wanted to be, And there the two
(31:33):
players who showed me that everything is possible, we can
just be from our little neighborhoods in our amazing city.
I always admired them to more than more than any
other players. Jamie Carriger was an inspiration for Trent as
a young man. He's a fellow scoucer, a one club man,
(31:55):
playing for Liverpool for seventeen years and leading his team
to Mini troll. He's a long way Jamie was even
there Trends signing day years ago. Here's Jamie. Sometimes you
look at someone and you just look the part for
whatever it is, whether it's a film role, to play
professional football, to play basketball, whatever is. You look at
someon you think, yes, that's that looks the part. And
(32:19):
whenever I see Trent and I look at him in
the kids, he just looks the exact physique. He would
want his physical attributes as technical attributes you'd want someone
to play with and you'd want someone to have. I
don't think anyone in this country right now is It's
probably better placed as an example of what an academy
(32:40):
can do for a for a young football at really
in terms of trend because he's almost reinventing in a
position really, but his technical ability, and I think a
lot of that will come from the fact that he
was actually training three or four times a week from
such a young age. I was possibly playing on the street,
which is great, and he's still picking up your your
tips and you know, learning your techniques and your skill.
But it is completely different than getting proper culturing. Really,
(33:03):
and I think the technical abilities these young players coming
out of a caddies and that was fast superior to
what we you were producing the eighteen nine twenty And
as I said, only there's any bigger example right now
in Santaxlander Arnold is that the grounded nature a big
(33:26):
part of what makes Trent successful massively. His mom was
so grounded that was a really really exciting player, one
of the best players of the team every year, and
every year that I would get the vocal off Diane
saying is he gonna get cats? Is he gonna get released?
And I would laugh, How do you're not going to laugh?
You really think he's gonna get least? Well, you don't know,
he said. You just think it's the best thing to slicepread.
(33:48):
You just tell me he's great all the time. Then
coaches might not like it. You just think he's great.
She would remind Trend all the time, this should end somebody.
You need to make sure you work hard. You don't
know what's going to happen. You need to make sure
you this I'm saying from six or seven all the time,
keeping his feet on the floor, you know, as good
as your last pass. No, I mean all the time,
(34:11):
all the time. Back to caw and Trent. We're in America.
Many people may not know what what the meaning of
the word scouts or what's your definition. I'd say what
I always say is that scouts are very very passionate
(34:32):
and what they've believe in, and whether that be politics, art, music, football, makeup,
whatever it is, they are in on it and they'll
argue day in, day and night for what they believe in.
So having to football teams in the in the city
(34:54):
is something that's probably quite quite rare, and to have
two sets of fans that are so passionate is also rare.
So wherever you go and whoever you come across, there's
just passion and optimism and a sense of desire and
hunger and wanting to achieve and wanting to succeed, and
(35:16):
wanting to make others feel better and make others feel
like things are achievable, and want't everyone within the city
to succeed. Evident supporters aren't going to like me at all.
I understand that boat as a scout set. They wouldn't
(35:36):
want to see me not playing. That's probably the best
way I can to say is that they're probably glad
that people from Liverpool are playing four teams in Liverpool,
which is a good sign for the city. Jamie character
cently find this. Who knows if you'll finish his career
at Liverpool. We don't. We don't know that yet because
(35:58):
at times it will be tough. At the moment is
going absolutely out of this world for trend's best team
in the world, best team in the country, European champions,
all this, but it won't be like that forever. You know,
it can change very quickly. There they big questions, ask
about different things, or the team are doing well, maybe
his own form and that's where that character and creative
(36:18):
you know, the Liverpool people come through. I think every
football team or baseball team, basketball team, American football, wherever
it may be, I think it's going to represent that
city and every city's difference, the team transplaining and now
there's that bond between the team and the supporters. I
(36:39):
just think because the energy of the manager, of the
energy the team obviously the quality you know, and you
look at that team. You think they're all good lads them.
There's no bad apple, there's no rotten egg in there.
We've had a few of them at different times when
I was playing. But you look at the team now
and they all just look like people. You think, Yeah,
you want them in that red Shire. You want them
paying for Liverpool, you want them fighting for you on
(37:01):
the pitch. And it's been a long time since we
have the Liverpool So you not represented the city so
well do you? When you look at your team now,
You've got players around you that seemed to perfectly complement
what you do. You know, you've got Andy Robertson, You've
(37:23):
got Van Dyke that are there for you if you're
moving up the field, that they're covering for you. Has
has this team been a way to get the best
out of you? Does everybody know that you're going to
be running up the field and we've got to protect
(37:45):
the downside? Uh? In case? It's it's an environment based
on freedom and creativity. That's from the manager. That's the
environment he has created. That's the way that we play
(38:09):
when we're out there, and the way that we've adapted
our style is somehow I don't know how but it
feels as though everyone can play to their strengths. No
one's got limitations because of tactics. Everyone can can express
(38:31):
themselves in the way that they want to without limitations.
And that's because of If one person wants to go
and express themselves and they feel as all that's the
right thing for the team, then we've got such good
players that it's gonna it's gonna make us better, it's
going to create a chance to score, or it's going
(38:53):
to create trouble for the opposition. So why put a
limit on it. Let's try and create as much chaos
and topic we can with the sense of responsibility on
sensibility as well. And here's a question that can only
(39:14):
come from somebody across the pond in the United States,
because if you're a big soccer football fan, you know
the difference between the Premier League in the Champions League.
Uh But and it seems a little crazy if you don't,
because you can actually be the champion of the Premier
(39:37):
League but not the champion of the Champion League. And
you can be champion of the Champion League without being
champion of the Premier League. What are all these games
the same to you or does winning the Premier League
means something different principally because Liverpool hasn't wanted and early
(40:00):
years or so. Yeah, so we were champions of Europe
and champions of the World without being champions of England,
which is which is quite weird for me. I've always
wanted the Premier League. I've always thought it was harder
(40:22):
to win the Premier League, just because in the Champions
League you can get you can get through one on
a bit of look, it's the look of the draw.
You might get easier draw to knock out game away
goals in the In the Premier League, it's a full season,
(40:44):
it's nine months. It's it just feel as though it's
harder because you have to be more consistent. The Champions
League is a special competition. Everyone knows that it's always
been a dream to win that. It's every player's dream
to play in it. It's every play a dream to
actually win it and to be a part of it.
And it's probably the most special competition that there is
(41:07):
for the fans, for the players, for everyone. The Champions
League is the elite. But I imagine the feeling of
winning the Premier League will be a different kind of
feeling because of what it actually takes. So there you are,
it looks like your team is at the cusp of
(41:27):
winning your premier league and then the coronavirus kicks in.
What what do you thinking and feeling through all of this?
And and the other thing about it is, can you
imagine playing a game at home with no fans? There's
(41:49):
there's been so many thoughts and feelings over the last
ten of twelve weeks. But yeah, it's been difficult, as
you can imagine, so close to something so special and
it's being put on pause for so long. It's it's
like someone cooking your favorite meal and saying, no, you
(42:09):
have to wait until tomorrow to me to while while
you sit there and smell it and watch it and
you can almost taste it. But it is one of
it is. It will be a season that will be
remembered forever, and we want to try and make it
a specially as we can. We want to win the
(42:30):
season that all this happened. We want to be able
to tell our kids about our grandchildren that not only
did we beat everyone else in the league, but we
also beat coronavirus at the same time. Who who else? Who?
What other team can can say that I don't. It's
(42:55):
music to my m HM. When I had this moment
(43:20):
of our is just a single split moment of whoa
I'm actually living this. So I was I was speaking
to Okly Chamberlain and we were just having like a
little joke and stuff which messed around, and then we
started talking about like the academy and how we got
involved and how we got to Southampton and how I
(43:44):
was at Liverpool. And as I was just talking it
was I started to like really realized what I'm actually doing.
So it's for someone to be able to say that
they came through an academy and he played for that
(44:04):
team is so so special, Like it's very rare that
you go from a young age all the way up
and you play for that team, and then two be
at the same team that I've been at from six
to all the way and then make it up to
the best team and then now being the best team
(44:26):
in the world. I don't know if there's many people
that can say that there's nothing that I would change.
What else could I even ask for? Right now, I'm
playing for the best team in the world with some
of the best players in the world with the best
manager in the world. I've got a family at home
that's safe, I've got friends that are safe. And it
(44:48):
was in that moment that I just got a little
bit maybe emotional, and it was in that moment of thinking,
I thought like, this is the actual dream. Yeah, this
has been The only way is through a podcast collaboration
(45:10):
between under Armour and I Heart Radio. Join us next
time to hear more stories of athletic performance and what
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