Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold chose not to shy away from social media after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to rivals Manchester United.
The 19-year-old Scouser was turned inside-out by Marcus Rashford for the opening goal and he struggled against the young England international all afternoon.
Rashford – who was making his first Premier League start of 2018 – was awarded the Man of the Match award following his first-half brace at Old Trafford.
Jose Mourinho said: “[It was] obviously important for us, important for the kid [Rashford] and when you are a local boy and you are in the club since you are seven, eight or nine years old like he was, of course it is a special feeling for him to do that against Liverpool.”
Eric Bailly’s calamitous second-half own goal gave Liverpool some hope but the United backline stood strong to secure all three points.
Alexander-Arnold and Dejan Lovren struggled against United and Jurgen Klopp criticised his defence to reporters after the game.
“We have to defend these situations better,” said the German boss.
“You can always lose a header or a challenge with Romelu Lukaku of course but there is a gap in behind and we need to close that.”
TEENAGER APOLOGISES ON INSTAGRAM
Most Liverpool players stayed off social media after the 2-1 loss but 19-year-old Alexander-Arnold fronted up and – apart from a few negative responses – Reds supporters really appreciated it.
“I just want to apologise to all the fans!” Alexander-Arnold wrote on Instagram.
“The support today was amazing and our performance was not good enough to get the result we wanted. We will learn from this and come back stronger. YNWA”
Klopp’s side will look to bounce back when they host Watford in the Premier League next Saturday.
Very classy.
LIVERPOOL FANS APPLAUD HIS POST
Alexander-Arnold is Liverpool through-and-through and fans on Twitter praised the youngster for his maturity on social media.
Trent Alexander Arnold, 19, apologises after the game when he didn't really need to. Dejan Lovren, who spoke like he was prime Maldini before the game, doesn't utter a word after it. Whoever's criticizing TAA, please stop.
— AndyK (@OhYaBeautaay) March 10, 2018
Trent after a mistake: apologised on social media to the fans
Lovren after a mistake: goes into hiding, turns off his instagram comments, deletes his avi, has a meltdown on insta stories, screenshots his "death threats" then wins the club POTM because he cried for it.
— • (@bubbIxs) March 10, 2018
Very, very mature that instagram post from Trent. No need to apologise for anything tbh but fairplay
— Sean Davies 🏴 (@SeanDave96) March 10, 2018
19 year old Alexander-Arnold publicly apologising to the fans on Instagram for his mistakes today.
28 year old Dejan Lovren will go into hiding for a week, then do an interview with the Echo about when his cat died when he was a kid
— Sam (@f1rmino) March 10, 2018
With a little encouragement – and some good coaching – Alexander-Arnold could yet become a legend at Anfield.