Alex Oxlade Chamberlain aka "The Ox"

[Exiled_red]

I think it's bit premature to talk of him leaving next season, we need English midfielders, he is getting more minutes and seems to be improving as well. If he can continue like this and stay relatively healthy I don't see why he can't stay longer.

I think the homegrown factor is in play here to some extent at the moment our HG players are TAA, Gomez, Phillips, Milner, Henderson and Ox. The likes of Jones and Elliott will count when they reach the appropriate age as would some of the squad players if they remain involved (Williams, Davies etc) We aren't exactly flloded with HG players and given Milner and Phillips are unlikely to be around long term getting rid of Ox too would limit our options somewhat.

[danperkins]

I thought he had a dire first 30 mins or so but got a lot better after that. He topped our pressing stats for the game - 19 individual presses. Still not sure I trust him to start regularly.

This

[baitman]

The whole performance was pretty flat first 30 mins or so.

I agree, he is not quite at the level he was pre injury, but there are encouraging signs.

As soon as the whistle goes we need klopp to run over and nut the other manager to get the crowd fired up, turn Anfield into a blood spattered amphitheatre

[RedAndWhite]

As soon as the whistle goes we need klopp to run over and nut the other manager to get the crowd fired up, turn Anfield into a blood spattered amphitheatre

Why wait until then! Get stuck in before the whistle as i dont think you can get carded for something before then!!!

[Mr Pink]

Why wait until then! Get stuck in before the whistle as i dont think you can get carded for something before then!!!

What if we hired that klopp lookalike guy to attack the other manager on the sidelines before the game starts… the crowd think it’s klopp and get the atmosphere going… and then when it comes to a punishment, the real Jurgen can be like naaa wasn’t me

[Norbs]

Employ a Klopp lookalike and a lookalike of their manager and have a staged fight. That way Klopp stays out of prison

[Big-Red-Ed]

There's already a lookalike on the staff. Or used to be

YNWA

[Buzzo]

Can anyone share this?

[ame]https://twitter.com/jamespearcelfc/status/1462693039248400386[/ame]

[Buzzo]

**** it. It is only £1 pcm for T'athletic now so went for it.

Written pre last night this is a pretty decent summary of where Ox is at. Klopp (as you would expect) nails it.

Oxlade-Chamberlain gives reminder of his quality with all-action performance

By James Pearce Nov 22, 2021 63
It’s been three and a half years since Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain completed 90 minutes in a Premier League game.

You have to go back to the visit of Bournemouth, in April 2018, for the last time he stayed the distance for Liverpool.

That was 10 days before he suffered the devastating knee injury in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final against Roma that rocked his world.

Not only did he tear the ACL, he also ruptured the lateral collateral ligament, damaged the medial ligament and ripped his lateral hamstring tendon in an innocuous-looking sliding challenge on Aleksandar Kolarov. It couldn’t have been much worse. One of the abiding images of that Champions League final against Real Madrid in Kyiv was the sight of Oxlade-Chamberlain on crutches with tears streaming down his face.

“We will wait for Ox like the good wife when the husband is in prison,” vowed Jurgen Klopp.


The manager was true to his word but getting him back to the heights he was hitting before that cruel setback has proved challenging.

There were promising signs in the title-winning campaign of 2019-20, when he scored eight goals in all competitions, but another knee injury wrecked the first half of last season and on his return from that lay-off in the December he found his opportunities limited. He ended up playing just 244 minutes of Premier League football across 13 appearances in 2020-21, only two of them starts.

Picked for this season’s opening game against Norwich City, he was taken off after an hour that afternoon and slipped down the pecking order. It was almost three months before he started in the top flight again.

Oxlade-Chamberlain found himself in a vicious circle where he clearly needed regular game time to gain rhythm but his contributions when he came off the bench simply didn’t justify the run in the team he craved.

But Liverpool’s midfield department has been gradually depleted by injuries, leading to Oxlade-Chamberlain’s recall earlier this month in the central role he was looking for when he left Arsenal for Anfield in the summer of 2017.

There have been times since when Oxlade-Chamberlain has been guilty of trying too hard to impress, and his decision-making has let him down. A bubbly personality in the dressing room who is a popular figure among players and staff alike, he’s also his own biggest critic. Klopp spoke extensively to him about what he wanted to see before he delivered a much improved display at home to Atletico Madrid at the start of this month.

“The problem is when you haven’t played for a long time and you consider the situation, you think you have to convince people,” Klopp said in the aftermath of that 2-0 victory.

“He had his Oxlade-Chamberlain moments – good with the ball and all that kind of stuff. But we need Mr Oxlade-Chamberlain as well, the mature one, the calm one, the closing one. When he hasn’t played for a long time, he tries to over-achieve in a game.”

Klopp certainly got both sides of Oxlade-Chamberlain during Saturday’s ruthless demolition of Arsenal. It was a massive step forward for him.

Once again, he was taken off. There were 76 minutes on the clock when Jordan Henderson replaced him. In his 54 starts for Liverpool across all competitions, Oxlade-Chamberlain has been substituted 43 times.

However, on this occasion, he departed to a standing ovation.

He had played a starring role in Klopp’s men delivering the perfect response to the miserable defeat to West Ham United prior to the November international break and reigniting their title challenge.

The midfield functioned so much better as a unit. Fabinho getting back to his commanding best as the defensive shield certainly helped. So too did the swaggering presence of Thiago, himself making his first start since September.

But it was Oxlade-Chamberlain who really caught the eye. His work off the ball was as impressive as what he did on it.

He set the tone as Liverpool relentlessly pressed Arsenal high up the pitch, repeatedly forcing them to make mistakes. He created an early opportunity for Mohamed Salah after dispossessing Ben White and then did brilliantly to get back to deny Bukayo Saka inside his own box.

Positive and direct, Oxlade-Chamberlain repeatedly cut through Mikel Arteta’s side. After firing a shot narrowly wide in the second half, he created a golden chance for Diogo Jota but the striker’s touch let him down.

As well as regaining possession on four occasions, Oxlade-Chamberlain made three tackles (only Kostas Tsimikas made more for the home team), an interception, a block and a clearance. He completed 76 per cent of his passes.

“We’re here for one reason and it’s to compete for the title,” he beamed afterwards.

“We defend in a certain way, and that’s winning the ball back high; when we don’t do that it has a knock-on effect further back, which we’ve suffered with a bit in recent games. We defended better from the front (today).

“I was happy with certain aspects of my game but I should have scored, to be honest. There were areas I could have been better and would have liked to be better.“

The contest had been relatively flat for half an hour until Arteta angrily confronted Klopp on the touchline.

It was akin to poking a sleeping bear.

“The crowd picked up (following that incident) and we benefited from that energy. Maybe that was the turning point in terms of energy and atmosphere,” admitted Oxlade-Chamberlain.

In terms of attacking fluency, defensive shape and game management, the second half was as good as Liverpool have looked all season as Jota, Salah and substitute Takumi Minamino added to Sadio Mane’s first-half header.

That was all the more impressive considering that Klopp was without nine players through either injury or illness. Four teenagers were on the bench with academy graduate Tyler Morton, who has made rapid strides this season, handed his top-flight debut late on.

With Henderson now fit and Naby Keita, James Milner and Curtis Jones on the comeback trail, Oxlade-Chamberlain’s performance was timely.

At the age of 28, and with just 18 months to run on his contract, this is a pivotal period for him. He needs to build on it.

Klopp doesn’t need 90 minutes from him. He just needs these standards to be maintained.

[Fosterbloke]

I think he can do it too - score a couple of goals along with this level of performance and he'll deserve to keep his place for sure.

[BobTheCharmer]

Fantastic tonight. Just kept driving forward. I think he's getting back to a decent level now. I don't think he'll ever be the player he looked like becoming due to those damn knee injuries. But what we now is an option, a very good squad player, someone that can step in when required. I just hope he keeps getting minutes now everyone is coming back.

[Buzzo]

Fantastic tonight. Just kept driving forward. I think he's getting back to a decent level now. I don't think he'll ever be the player he looked like becoming due to those damn knee injuries. But what we now is an option, a very good squad player, someone that can step in when required. I just hope he keeps getting minutes now everyone is coming back.

Agree 100%. Showed some of this bursts past players and strength (like on Salahs goal), really encouraging. Looks really mobile and leads the press well.

A midfield of Ox, Morton and Taki and we were comfortable v Milan.

I feel like he’s got a few goals coming also.

[Kenneth]

Fantastic tonight. Just kept driving forward. I think he's getting back to a decent level now. I don't think he'll ever be the player he looked like becoming due to those damn knee injuries. But what we now is an option, a very good squad player, someone that can step in when required. I just hope he keeps getting minutes now everyone is coming back.

[Fosterbloke]

Agree 100%. Showed some of this bursts past players and strength (like on Salahs goal), really encouraging. Looks really mobile and leads the press well.

A midfield of Ox, Morton and Taki and we were comfortable v Milan.

I feel like he’s got a few goals coming also.

He had a few good shots, some of which would have been on target and likely goals if they hadn't had a deflection in the box.

[Buzzo]

He also absolutely rinsed Kessie in the build up to Salahs goal. Was good to see him shrugging off a player like that.

He had a few good shots, some of which would have been on target and likely goals if they hadn't had a deflection in the box.

His shot is an absolute cannon.