Is Conor Bradley The Right Back Liverpool Fans Thought Trent Was?

Is Conor Bradley The Right Back Liverpool Fans Thought Trent Was?

A club at the centre of so much discussion this season, Liverpool and Arne Slot made a big step towards easing the ever-building pressure last night with a priceless Champions League victory over Europe’s most successful team in Real Madrid.

However, in a game where the headline story was supposed to be dominated by the return of ex-Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, the final whistle instead saw the attention fall on his replacement, academy boy Conor Bradley.

NO Liverpool fan will scroll without liking.... ♥️ pic.twitter.com/j2rkPDeiHa

— Football Hub (@FootbalIhub) November 4, 2025

The Northern Irishman was absolutely everywhere - clearly relishing the prospect of facing up with one of world football’s finest wingers in Vinicius Junior, Bradley flew into tackles, pressed like his life depended on it, and constantly played balls into the Real Madrid half in a bid to turn the backline. Vini Kr must have felt he was being marked by his own shadow.

Even Trent failed to steal the spotlight as he came on to a chorus of Anfield boos, as Bradley mastered the biggest stage with the class and grace of a man 10 years his senior.

Remarkably, this is not the first time Bradley has drawn attention against Real Madrid - in November of last year, the two sides played each other once again in the league phase, with Bradley instrumental in shutting down a left flank consisting of both Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham.

His performance last night begs an interesting debate - although his attacking output is far inferior to that of former favourite TAA, Bradley’s all-round game is hugely impressive for one just 22 years of age. Is he the right back that Liverpool fans once thought Trent could be?

Big Boots to Fill

Now, I know that Liverpool fans are still … upset about the circumstances surrounding Alexander-Arnold’s departure, and given his reception last night, it is clear that the animosity still runs deep. However, it would be remiss of everyone to discount just what the Englishman accomplished in his time at the club.

The Anfield crowd let Real Madrid’s Trent Alexander-Arnold know exactly how they feel about him. pic.twitter.com/fwyoOK5RI1

— Keifer MacDonald (@KeiferMacD) November 4, 2025

He was a set-piece extraordinaire, long-ball wizard, assist king, and corner taken quickly … ORIGIIIIIIIII! At times, during his spell at Liverpool, he was treated like a god, and the mural installed on the side of a house in the city reading “I’m just a normal lad from Liverpool whose dream has just come true” underlined just how important he was to the Kop.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner taken quickly to complete one of the greatest comebacks in European history pic.twitter.com/v4rfqq3u80

— Dennoh (@CFC_dennoh) November 8, 2024

Though the mural has been defaced multiple times since his salty departure from the club, Alexander-Arnold’s record cannot be manipulated: 23 goals, 86 assists, two Premier Leagues, a Champions League, and a host of domestic honours mean that whether Liverpool fans like it or not, he will go down as one of the Anfield greats.

What it certainly does mean is that Connor Bradley has gigantic shoes to fill. A player of superb defensive instincts and tidy discipline on the wall, Bradley does not boast the same outrageous passing range or technically excellent free-kicks that more often than not found the back of the net that Trent frequently showcased.

Instead, he brings rigid discipline, a steely resolve to win his duel, and defensive excellence, the one facet of the game his predecessor could never quite master.

📊 Conor Bradley made the most recoveries (7), won 100% of his tackles (3/3) and completed the most passes into the final third (10) for #LFC tonight.

Simply sensational.

🎶 There’s only one Conor Bradley🎶 pic.twitter.com/v1CrBpHeJ3

— Bence Bocsák (@BenBocsak) November 4, 2025

And it showed last night - in all, Bradley made seven recoveries, three tackles, two clearances, one interception and one clearance, all while facing up against last year’s Ballon d’Or runner-up. While Liverpool fans have had every right to moan about him at times this season, his showing last night was an indicator of just how good he could be.

The Rise of Bradley-Ball

When Bradley first broke into the Liverpool first team in the 2023/24 season, Liverpool were bang in the middle of a horrendous injury crisis, one which had taken the likes of Salah, Szoboszlai, Alisson and, of course, Alexander-Arnold, making Bradley’s introduction more necessary than out of any sort of choice.

However, the then 20-year-old stepped up to the plate and delivered in a big way, proving key in Liverpool’s unlikely Carabao Cup final victory over a full-strength Chelsea side, and across just 23 first-team appearances notched a goal and six assists. At the time, these were considered TAA numbers, made all the more impressive by the fact that prior to that season, 90% of Bradley’s senior games had been played at League One side Bolton Wanderers.

The following season, Bradley was utilised as a steady back-up option for Alexander-Arnold in what would prove to be his final season, and once again, he impressed on the occasions he did play, creating four goals and playing 29 times, with 19 of these coming in Liverpool’s outstanding Premier League title run.

ON REPEAT 🔁😍

Enjoy every angle of Conor Bradley's fantastic first goal for the Reds against Chelsea 👏⚽ pic.twitter.com/n71amQsYHL

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 1, 2024

However, come this summer, and with Trent gone, Bradley suddenly found himself the senior right-back at Liverpool FC, a foreboding amount of pressure to put on the shoulders of one so young, especially when it was considered that prior to the campaign kicking off, he had made just 57 appearances for the club.

That pressure seemed to show early on - with a string of mediocre performances, Bradley was unable to lock down the starting spot; even Szoboszlai, an attacking midfielder by trade, found himself occupying the right flank of Bradley at one point.

However, in the last two games for his club, in which he played the full 90 minutes both times, the Northern Irishman seems to have pulled his finger out - he looks sharper, more confident, and less weighed down by the immense expectation laid upon him by virtue of Trent’s success.

His resurgence was topped off by what can only be described as a world-class showing last night against Los Blancos, a stage where only a very special few can thrive. Clearly, Bradley’s potential is sky-high.

Can He Cast Trent Into Shadow?

Every time Bradley left Vini Jr on the deck, he was met with raucous cheers from the faithful Kop, cheers that stem from a truly artful tackle made on Mbappe in the same fixture a year ago. Up against one of the forwards on the planet, Bradley flew into a tackle and won nothing but ball - it was a tackle for the football purists, and I would be lying if I didn’t say that I enjoyed the spectacle.

In all its glory: THAT Conor Bradley tackle 😮‍💨#UCL pic.twitter.com/XmYSYZ9nhA

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 29, 2024

More crucially though, the two performances underlined what Liverpool had been lacking across the 354 games Alexander-Arnold took to the field for - a defensive presence.

Trent would often place himself very close to the ball carrier in a defensive scenario, which meant that one quick move, a single piece of skill, would often be enough to escape his half-hearted attempts at winning the ball.

Conversely, Bradley prefers to stay a fair distance away - using last night as an example, the distance between him and Vinicius meant that the Brazilian was repeatedly forced to think outside the box in order to create, as with Bradley continuously dropping off, it was almost impossible to go around him.

Marc Cucurella does a very similar thing at Chelsea - he drops and drops until the attacker either runs out of room or is forced to play backwards to reset the attack - in some cases, not committing is the best defensive commitment a backliner can make.

This is Bradley’s first instinct - with Trent, it is typically his last. He was so haphazard when on the back foot that both Jurgen Klopp and Gareth Southgate attempted to turn him into a central midfielder, but the experiment failed on both counts, and Trent was stuck in a position where offensively, he thrived, but defensively, he barely survived.

Connor Bradley whenever we play Madrid #LiverpoolFC pic.twitter.com/RLerAoH6My

— fodri (@Jc6398263) November 4, 2025

Bradley’s attacking input is certainly passable: he loves to get forward, and his crosses into the box cause problems more often than not, but Trent’s ball-playing ability was one of a kind, one which Bradley will never be able to replicate.

Instead, Bradley must create his own niche. An all-action player, the right-back is important in every phase of play, and this is the sort of versatility Liverpool have been chasing for years. Trent may have won them titles with his elite passing, set-piece magic and offensive innovation, but Bradley has all the tools to make the right-back spot his own - all he needs is consistency.