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Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold is embracing his ‘hybrid’ role by watching video clips of some of the world’s greatest midfielders in order to gain greater understanding. Towards the end of last season the 25-year-old was asked to vary his right-back role by stepping into central areas to be able to dictate on the ball more and offer a different attacking dimension. It is something which was first pioneered with John Stones by Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and, while Alexander-Arnold has studied how his England team-mate has performed, he has not limited his learning to ‘hybrid’ players. “I enjoy learning about the game, watching things, watching players, different systems, different teams, how different players play it and there are some players who play it really well,” he said after the 3-0 victory over Brentford which set up a top versus second clash against Manchester City when the Premier League resumes after the international break. “I think as someone who plays the inverted, hybrid role – I don’t know what people call it these days – then it is obviously John Stones. “He is someone who, for a long time, I have admired his game; he is exceptional, so I watch him a lot. Clips or even when I am just watching City’s games, I will sit and focus on him. “I have always admired him, I do admire the way Rodri plays. “He is pivotal in that team and someone who is massively underrated but like we have seen recently, when you take him out of the team, they are not the same. That just shows how important he is. “I would say it is those kinds of players I watch, but there are a lot. I will watch players from the past as well – (Sergio) Busquets, (Xabi) Alonso, (Andrea) Pirlo, Stevie G (Gerrard): those players I have always enjoyed watching.” I will watch players from the past as well – Busquets, Alonso, Pirlo, Stevie G Trent Alexander-Arnold on learning from great midfielders It makes sense for Alexander-Arnold to educate himself on the ways of such midfield maestros as there has been more than a hint he could be transformed into a genuine option. He was first tried centrally by Gareth Southgate in a game against Andorra just over two years ago and when the England squad is now published, Alexander-Arnold is listed as a midfielder. At the time Jurgen Klopp questioned why he would play the world’s best right-back in midfield but he has mellowed his stance since then and even brought Alexander-Arnold on as the defensive midfielder in the Carabao Cup win at Bournemouth last month. “The conversations I have had with the (England) manager and the staff there, I go there as a midfielder, I train there and that is where I try and play on the pitch barring the Australia game last time,” he added. “It really does help me in that sense. I am not playing midfield week in, week out here but I am getting on the ball in central areas and knowing how to receive and conduct yourself and play a game in midfield is a lot different to at the side of the pitch. “I think the way I see it and the way I am told and explained to play it (at Liverpool), it is almost when we have the ball I am midfielder and when we don’t have the ball I am a right-back. “I think when the ball advances up the pitch it becomes more about protection and stopping counter attacks. It is more disciplined. “When I come in as a right-back there is still (Wataru) Endo or Macca (Alexis Mac Allister) there, Fabinho last season, and their job is to stay as the number six. “My job is the one who comes in and still has the freedom to underlap Mo (Salah) or overlap him, get into the box, shoot or cross whereas as a number six it is more rigid, your role along with the two centre-backs to ensure that when the ball pops out of the box it doesn’t go into the striker’s feet and they can build from there.” Read More John Carver urges Lawrence Shankland to make the most of late Scotland call-up Ben Davies keen to prove doubters wrong as Wales target another major tournament Britain’s Katie Boulter eager to build on her successful season in 2024 On this day in 2006: Gold Cup winning Desert Orchid dies at the age of 27 The sporting weekend in pictures San Francisco 49ers return to winning ways against Jacksonville Jaguars

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Make enough decisions and the law of averages dictates that even Todd Boehly will get the odd one right, sooner or later. In Mauricio Pochettino’s case, it is certainly later: Chelsea could have appointed him manager eight months ago and plumped instead for the sadly miscast Graham Potter. And so, as Pochettino’s task involves clearing up Boehly’s mess and turning chaos into something cohesive, it feels rather fitting that he begins with first-hand evidence that poor decision-making has consequences. If Pochettino is potentially the solution in this belated union, Chelsea may represent the problem. But it is significant that the supposed ethos of the new regime – before they instead became indelibly associated with chronic, clueless overspending and extraordinary underachievement – actually matched Pochettino’s principles. Much of his work at Stamford Bridge is simply to repeat the job he did at Tottenham, albeit with the significant caveat of adding trophies on top. But restoring a club to the Champions League, rebuilding relations with the support, engendering a feeling of positivity, developing young players and producing an exciting, attacking brand of football: Chelsea do not need to look far across the capital to see that Pochettino has already done that. And this, supposedly, was what Clearlake Capital was going to be about, not the hire-and-fire short-termism of Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea. Now, after two sackings in a season, Chelsea are in greater need of a Pochettino-style reboot. Admittedly, a complication is that, while Potter had a contract to 2027, Pochettino’s deal is only until 2025, with an extra year a club option. The undistinguished David Datro Fofana’s contract will still be twice as long as Pochettino’s; Mykhailo Mudryk’s will have a further six years. He begins hamstrung, to some extent, by Chelsea’s conviction that they had owned the future with their transfer-market business. If Thomas Tuchel used to describe the squad he took over as a “gift”, Pochettino’s inheritance is part present, part hospital pass. He needs the owners to have the competence to clear out the players he does not want; a task they seem to have underestimated amid the influx of signings. Part of Pochettino’s initial success at Tottenham entailed identifying a new core as he dispensed with senior figures such as Younes Kaboul, Emmanuel Adebayor, Aaron Lennon, Paulinho and Etienne Capoue. Chelsea could do with similar decisiveness and clarity of thought. They have used 32 players in the Premier League this season, second only to Nottingham Forest, and made over 130 changes to the starting 11, by far the most, which speaks of Potter’s unsuccessful compromises to involve everyone and Lampard’s muddled attempts to find a fix. With no European football next season, they have still less need of a cast of thousands. If Pochettino, with his prowess as a man-manager, may have to reengage some of the disillusioned and to unite the disparate parts of Chelsea’s squad, the actual number of players has to be manageable. He may have the initial impediment that Mason Mount, one of those best suited to his style of football, is a potential departure; Chelsea’s extravagant outlay has created a need to sell and too many others look either deadwood or unlikely to bring in meaningful fees. The danger is they lose those they want to keep and keep those they want to lose. Somehow, amid 16 signings and £600m of expenditure, Chelsea have created the perception that they still require at least three major additions: a goalkeeper, an actual defensive midfielder as their £107m midfielder, Enzo Fernandez, may not be one, and a striker. It is a difficult juggling act: one of the telling factors could be if Romelu Lukaku proves his Stamford Bridge version of Adebayor or Harry Kane. It was one of the damning elements of Potter’s reign that, despite an ability on the training ground that helped players at his previous clubs to progress dramatically, no one got better at Chelsea and many regressed. The exponential improvement of Tottenham’s youthful players – personified, in their different ways, by Kane and Dele Alli – and the way everyone reached new levels under Pochettino always offered reasons to choose and trust him. The latter element may be significant: the feeling is that too many of Clearlake Capital’s off-field appointments are yes men for Boehly and co. They have proved woefully poor judges and negotiations ought to have given Pochettino the licence to pursue his own path. Perhaps, after the madness of Paris Saint-Germain – though Chelsea is a different sort of madness and it is notable that Tuchel, the first manager Boehly sacked, accomplished more in the French capital than Pochettino – the Argentinian needs a project. Chelsea provide one: Andrey Santos and Malo Gusto will arrive in the summer and Levi Colwill is due to return to add to the battalion of young players – Mudryk, Fernandez, Benoit Badiashile, Wesley Fofana, Carney Chukwuemeka, Armando Broja, Noni Madueke, Marc Cucurella, Cesare Casadei, Lewis Hall – who provide the raw materials that could be shaped into something. In some cases, Pochettino will first have to repair dents to their confidence or game done in a disastrous season but at least some of that potential could be realised. It is nevertheless a remarkable scenario that a team who won the Champions League two years ago now seem to have to start from scratch but Pochettino has to provide an identity, to add a style of play to a team with none, to get goals from a side who have only outscored Wolves, Bournemouth, Southampton and Everton this season. It amounts to an astonishingly big job, because, in footballing history, elite clubs have rarely got as many things wrong as Chelsea have in the last year. But he has the pedigree and personality required to manage a superpower, which Potter lacked, and perhaps this year will engender an understanding that could buy him time. Because taking over Chelsea at such a low ebb means that, however quickly or slowly, there is surely only one direction in which they can go. Read More Football rumours: Barcelona set sights on Bruno Guimaraes Frank Lampard believes Chelsea standards have slipped as cheerless campaign ends Easy in the end for Manchester City – same again next season? Chelsea still a ‘fantastic’ job insists Lampard - but also a ‘problem’ Frank Lampard: Chelsea must avoid knee-jerk decisions if they are to recover Tottenham identify leading candidate to be next manager

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CNN's ratings appear to have taken a hit in the wake of its much-maligned town hall featuring former President Donald Trump. More than a week after the controversial television spectacle, the network weathered its lowest-rated week since June 2015, according to The Daily Beast. The network averaged approximately 429,000 total daily viewers between Monday and Friday of last week. The network's viewership was also down by double digits when compared to the same week last year. Those numbers remained consistent for its primary advertising demographic of 25-54 year-olds. CNN's cable news rivals had far better viewership during the same time period; MSNBC had more than double CNN's daily audience, with 976,000 total viewers, while Fox News went beyond that with 1.4m. In a statement to The Independnet, CNN defended its ratings, noting that it outpaced Fox News for the month of May up through the 20th. “CNN is reaching the most P2+ and P25-54 viewers in cable news (39.173 million P2+ and 10.529 million P25-54), outpacing Fox News (35.422 million P2+ and 7.950 million P25-54),” a CNN spokesperson told The Independnet. Despite those numbers, Fox News is weathering its own storms with the abrupt firing of Tucker Carlson. Its numbers are down 41 per cent in its key demographics year-to-year, and down 24 per cent in total viewership. Its weekday demographic audience immediately after Carlson's departure was the lowest it has been since the first week of September 2001. Both Fox and CNN are suffering in their primetime time slots. Several of their weeknight primetime offerings have been beaten in the ratings by Newsmax, a far-right media channel that has served as a landing spot for conservative viewers fleeing Fox News in the wake of Carlson's departure. Newsmax saw a similar boost immediately after the 2020 election after Fox News accurately called Arizona for Joe Biden before any other news outlet. Chris Wallace's Friday night interview show on CNN scored only 224,000 total viewers in its 10pm slot; 60,000 more people were watching Newsmax during the same time slot. CNN noted to The Independent that Wallace’s show is available on Max before it airs on CNN, calling it “inaccurate” to portray the CNN viewership as the show’s only audience numbers. The only network actively gaining viewers is MSNBC, which saw its audience numbers increase 44 per cent — likely a result of the CNN exodus. CNN's town hall with Mr Trump and moderated by Kaitlan Collins included the former president further maligning E Jean Carroll — whom he was found by a court to have sexually assaulted and defamed — calling 6 January 2021 a "beautiful day," and promising to pardon Capitol rioters who attempted to thwart the nation's democratic transfer of power after his 2020 election loss. He also continued to push the idea that the 2020 election was stolen. Blowback to the town hall was so severe that CNN star anchor Anderson Cooper made a statement on-air about the debacle, ultimately asking them to view the event as a warning about Mr Trump's political aspirations. Read More Trump defames E Jean Carroll yet again after she sues him over CNN town hall insults Trump Media files $3.78bn defamation lawsuit against Washington Post over Truth Social reporting Trump slams Fox News’ Laura Ingraham over ‘hit piece’ saying DeSantis would do better against Biden than him

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 9, 2023--

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