‘Still so consistent’ – Shearer includes ‘formidable’ Liverpool quartet in PL Team of the Season | OneFootball

Alan Shearer has included four Liverpool players in his Premier League Team of the Season so far, the highest representation of any one club among the XI selected.

That’s a reflection of the Reds’ status as top-flight leaders with a five-point gap to Manchester City in second, with nobody from the reigning champions picked by the division’s all-time leading goalscorer (there’s no Arsenal representation either).

The 54-year-old found room in his star XI for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch and Mo Salah, while he also chose Arne Slot as his coach of the season up to now.

Shearer explains PL Team of the Season selections

As per the Premier League’s official website, here’s what Shearer had to say about the four Liverpool players that he included, along with the man orchestrating it all from the dugout.

Trent: “Arne Slot is making full use of Trent’s versatility and he’s adapted really well to the Dutchman’s tactics, while also defending solidly.”

Van Dijk: “His partnership with Ibrahima Konate is formidable. Liverpool look virtually impenetrable at times, as their defensive record shows, with only six goals conceded.”

Gravenberch: “He’s adapted really well to a slightly more defensive role this season, and his dominance in midfield is a big reason why Liverpool have been so good in both attack and defence.”

Salah: “He’s 32 now, but he’s still got that electric speed and he’s still so consistent, delivering goals and assists week in, week out.”

Slot: “When influential long-term figures have left other clubs, we have sometimes seen a sharp decline. Not this time. Liverpool appear even harder to beat than they were under Jurgen Klopp.”

(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Shearer heaps well-deserved praise on Trent

No Liverpool fan would argue with those selections from Shearer, although some might make the case for the likes of Konate, Luis Diaz and Caoimhin Kelleher to have been included as well.

Of the four Reds players that he did pick, it’s revealing that each of the high-profile trio who’ll be out of contract next summer were selected. That should be a serious wake-up call for the Anfield hierarchy to get their futures sorted out as a matter of urgency, with the three of them clearly still performing to a top level.

LFC fans will particularly enjoy the BBC pundit highlighting Trent’s impressive defending in recent months, a refreshing antidote to the usual agenda against our vice-captain in that regard among much of the media in this country.

If the 26-year-old weren’t pulling his weight defensively, there’s no way that Liverpool would’ve conceded just six goals after 11 league games, an excellent record that Shearer rightly referenced.

Let’s hope that, by the time the season ends, there’s every reason for the ex-Newcastle striker and his fellow pundits to include several players from a Reds team which, fingers crossed, might be Premier League champions by then.