Earlier in the week, Brazil legend Cafu hit out at criticism of Liverpool and England right back Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defending, saying that it reminds him of the criticism he and Roberto Carlos often faced when they were playing.

Today, it was Alexander-Arnold’s turn to comment on the view some pundits and fans take that he isn’t good enough in his own end—despite the 24-year-old being key to Liverpool winning the Premier League and Champions League.

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“I think it’s come to a point where it’s the lazy opinion,” Alexander-Arnold told TalkSport during a break from his England duties at the World Cup. “It’s the lazy thing to say. People just watch the game and see what they want to see.

‘You see what you want to see at the end of the day. If you’re going to a game and you have a perception that a player is lazy and you see him once not running then in your mind he’s always lazy and you don’t see the rest of the game.”

So far at the World Cup for England, Alexander-Arnold has struggled to for minutes despite statistically being one of the game’s top creative forces over the past five seasons and that this England side have at times lacked dynamism.

“I suppose that’s how I feel I’m judged,” he added. “People who watch me play football with a preconception of ‘he’s not a good defender’ so when I have one mistake or that one time someone gets past me it confirms what they think.”

“At times it can feel like it really doesn’t matter how well I do because if I’m not perfect then it’s never good enough and I’m held to standards that potentially other players aren’t held to, but that’s life and you’ve got to get on with it.”

England will get on with it, likely without Alexander-Arnold being involved given manager Gareth Southgate seems to be amongst his critics, when they take on Senegal in the Round of 16 on Sunday with the kickoff set for 7PM GMT.