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Why hasn’t Andy Robertson played more often for Liverpool this season?

In what might be the final few months of Andy Robertson’s Liverpool career, the Scot delivered a match-winning performance against Wolves in the FA Cup. Just as the Reds were running out of ideas on how to break down the Molineux hosts, their experienced left back produced a stunning opener.

 

Just two minutes after Robertson’s left-footed drive into the corner of the Wolves net, he produced an excellent assist for Mohamed Salah to put Liverpool 2-0, setting up the Egyptian with a pass across the six-yard box. It was a quintessential Robertson moment when Liverpool needed one.

 

Robertson’s contract is up at the end of the season. Most believe the 31-year-old will depart at Anfield this summer having spent nine years as a Liverpool player. The time might be right for all parties to move on, especially with Robertson generally a peripheral figure for Arne Slot.

 

Why, however, is Robertson a peripheral figure? Why hasn’t he played more this season? The left back’s performance against Wolves served Slot with a reminder of his elite-level quality and why Liverpool might have been better off giving Robertson more game time rather than freezing him out.

 

The signing of Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth last summer was an indication that Liverpool planned to replace Robertson. The Scot has lost a yard of space and made a few too many errors last season, suggesting the need for a long-term successor. Kerkez, however, is still extremely raw.

 

Kerkez has been thrown in at the deep end, possibly to the detriment of his own development. By rotating more between the Serbian and Robertson, Slot might have done a better job of handling the transition at left back. Robertson’s experience could have steadied Liverpool’s shaky defensive line.

 

Robertson has started just five Premier League games this season. Last season, for context, he started 29 as Liverpool surged to the title. When Robertson’s contract expires this summer, he will surely have no shortage of offers. He might have left in January when Tottenham Hotspur were keen to sign him.

 

“I was never not committed,” said Robertson when asked about the interest from Spurs and how it impacted him. “I’ve been committed to Liverpool for the last eight and a half or nine years now and I’ll be committed until I’m no longer needed. That’s always been my mindset. This club has given me everything and I’ve given this club everything.

 

“It’s been a fantastic relationship so hopefully that continues and obviously January happened, but it is now gone. Now we move forward and like I said, my focus never came off trying to help the lads on the pitch and in training. Whatever was happening behind the scenes happened, and all I can say is that I kept focusing on football.”

 

Liverpool are in the midst of a generational transition. Salah’s form this season has called into question his future on Merseyside while last summer’s arrival of Hugo Ekitike, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz hinted at the Reds preparing for a new era. Robertson doesn’t seem to have a place in that new era.

 

For a long time, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Robertson were the best full back pairing in the Premier League. They were crucial to the way Liverpool played and won it all with the Anfield club. Now, Alexander-Arnold is already gone and Robertson is set to follow his former teammate out the door.

 

The potential of Kerkez is clear, but it will take a lot for the Serbian to truly replace Robertson. His performances this season have been some way off the standard set by the Scotland international for the best part of a decade. If Robertson’s performance against Wolves was his swansong, it was a good one.