It was “obvious” Trent Alexander-Arnold was “not in the right frame of mind” against Manchester United, says former Liverpool striker John Aldridge.

Reds right-back Alexander-Arnold struggled to cope in the 2-2 draw at Anfield on Sunday.

The 26-year-old was subject to strong criticism from pundits and supporters for his performance, with many questioning if he had been distracted by talk over his future and a reported offer from Real Madrid.

“You ask every player who has played football and you get certain days that your head’s not right,” Aldridge told BBC World Service’s Sport Today programme.

“I’ve been there. I’ve played in games, especially early on in my career, when I think ‘please bring me off, I don’t know what’s wrong with me, it’s like I’ve got my boots on the wrong way around’.

“I think the hype around Trent [Alexander-Arnold] the last week, since 1 January in particular with Real Madrid and so forth, it’s going to affect him, absolutely.

“You’ve got to give Manchester United credit for the way they went about it. They overloaded him with the two best players – Bruno Fernandes and [Diogo] Dalot.

“They hardly went down our left-hand side, they capitalised on it and put a lot of pressure on Trent. It’s hard for anyone to deal with it, especially when you’re not in the right frame of mind as Trent wasn’t, that was obvious.

“It is only human. It [transfer rumours] is naturally going to affect him, and it did, it took its toll on the lad. People talking about [how] he can’t defend – of course he can defend. He might not be the best defender in the league, but he can defend. When you have a bad day, you have a bad day.”