Klopp is a fan but can Oxlade-Chamberlain ever be one of his first picks?By
James Pearce 29m ago
If money was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s motivation, he never would have ventured north to Merseyside. Arsenal were prepared to pay him £180,000 a week if he committed to a new contract back in 2017. Chelsea offered him the chance of a convenient move across the capital for even greater riches. It was ambition, rather than thoughts about his bank balance which convinced him to step out of his comfort zone and join Liverpool for a fee of £35 million.
The England international, who had entered the final year of his deal, was frustrated with life at the Emirates. He felt that things had gone stale. He was unhappy with being continually shifted around by Arsene Wenger to fill gaps, rather than being played in the central midfield role he craved.
Oxlade-Chamberlain had watched from afar with a degree of envy as Jurgen Klopp revived Liverpool’s fortunes and helped a host of players realise their full potential. Having received glowing recommendations about working with Klopp from England team-mates Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana, he wanted his development to receive a similar shot in the arm. He chose Liverpool because he wanted to become an integral part of a team capable of winning silverware.
Three years on, Oxlade-Chamberlain returned to the Emirates on Wednesday night as a Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup and Premier League winner. He was applauded on to the field by the club he left behind.
His decision has certainly been vindicated, given that Arsenal have been trophyless since he moved on — stumbling from Arsene Wenger to Unai Emery and now Mikel Arteta — yet Oxlade-Chamberlain’s battle to truly carve out a niche for himself in Klopp’s side remains a work in progress.
Since the Premier League restart, he has started just three of the champions’ seven games and he was taken off after an hour against Arsenal, with the manager looking elsewhere for inspiration as they tried in vain to repair the damage done by rare errors from Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, which were punished by Alexandre Lacazette and Reiss Nelson respectively following Sadio Mane’s opener.
Oxlade-Chamberlain’s tally of 85 appearances for Liverpool includes just 45 starts and he has been substituted on 35 occasions. Convincing Klopp he can last the pace has been an ongoing issue. He hasn’t completed 90 minutes in the Premier League all season. The 26-year-old has also had to accept playing out wide and doing a job for the team at times, despite clearly looking happier and more effective when operating through the middle. Only 25 of his 41 outings in all competitions this season have been in a central role.
On a personal level, life at Liverpool has been full of ups and downs for Oxlade-Chamberlain. There was the difficult start to his first season when he had to wait until November to make his full Premier League debut for the club as Klopp sought tactical adjustments from him on the training ground.
Then, the penny dropped and he blossomed. Powerful and direct, he gave Liverpool’s midfield a new dimension with his driving runs and ability to exploit small pockets of space. There was the stunning piledriver in the Champions League quarter-final triumph over Manchester City before his world was rocked by the serious knee injury he suffered in a challenge with Aleksandar Kolarov in the semi-final against Roma at Anfield.
“We will wait for Alex like a good wife when a man is in prison,” Klopp vowed shortly after Oxlade-Chamberlain underwent surgery.
There was the image of him on crutches and in floods of tears amid the heartbreak of defeat to Real Madrid in the final in Kiev. The rehab was gruelling and lonely but Oxlade-Chamberlain enhanced his standing among players and staff alike with how he faced those dark days at Melwood.
His charity work for Zoe’s Place, a Liverpool children’s hospice, helped to provide a sense of perspective. He was also indebted to the support of pop star girlfriend Perrie Edwards. After 367 days on the sidelines, there was an emotional return to action against Huddersfield Town as Anfield welcomed him back. The 2018-19 season was effectively a write-off, with Oxlade-Chamberlain making just two substitute appearances, and he didn’t feature in the Champions League final victory over Tottenham.
When he was handed a new contract by Liverpool last August, it was a symbolic and classy gesture. They were effectively giving him back the year that he had lost, with a 12-month extension tying him to the club until the summer of 2023. This season, he has rallied. His form earned him a return to the England fold as he was trusted by Klopp to start in both the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup triumphs.
He lit up the Luminus Arena with a classy double against Genk in the group stage of the Champions League back in October. But even on that night, Klopp wanted more from him in terms of his work off the ball.
“Ox’s performance was exactly like the performance of the team: the goals were great but all the rest could have been better,” was the manager’s assessment. “Finding your flow and your rhythm again is not too easy.”
Assistant coach Pep Lijnders spoke about how Liverpool had seen “glimpses” of the “completely different dynamic” that Oxlade-Chamberlain provides. Nine months on, that statement still stands. Real consistency has eluded him.
With seven goals and one assist in all competitions, he’s Liverpool’s fourth-top scorer behind Klopp’s established front three this season. It’s been his most prolific campaign since he netted nine times for Southampton as a teenager in 2010-11.
But Oxlade-Chamberlain, who hasn’t added to his account since early February, doesn’t need telling that there’s still plenty of room for improvement. He’s his own biggest critic and hasn’t been able to hide his feelings at times, most noticeably when he took his frustration on a seat after being substituted against Manchester United at Anfield.
He later confirmed that his issue was with “not doing as much as I’d like when I’m on” rather than Klopp’s decision to take him off. “I still need to do more. Quality-wise, I was a bit disappointed with myself,” he told the media after scoring in the win at West Ham United in January.
Klopp has urged him not to be so hard on himself. There was a public show of support when the topic of Liverpool’s squad depth came up last week.
“Oxlade-Chamberlain, if he’s not in your first XI; he played incredible games for this club. He won (the game) pretty much alone against City a year or so ago,” Klopp said. “He’s not a worse footballer since then. It’s just not easy always to be there.”
The reality is that few would name Oxlade-Chamberlain in the champions’ first-choice XI. Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum has been Klopp’s favoured midfield combination en route to Premier League glory.
However, there is no doubt that Oxlade-Chamberlain is worth persevering with. “I like him. He’s a flair player, who gives them something different,” declared former Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness from the Sky Sports studio prior to Wednesday’s game. “He’s got great quality but I’m still waiting for him to put a real run of games together.”
It didn’t start at the Emirates. There were moments of promise but at times, his touch and his decision-making let him down. Once again, when Klopp rang the changes early in the second half, the No 15 went up on the board.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has been a decent asset for Liverpool — both on and off the field. But his mission to take the leap from versatile, valuable squad option to being a mainstay of the team will continue into next season.
https://theathletic.co.uk/1928560/2020/07/16/liverpool-oxlade-chamberlain-arsenal-premier-league-klopp/I still have every faith that he will get back to his former self.
