Klopp transforms Oxlade-Chamberlain from England outcast to first choice midfielder
It was hard not to see the fee that Liverpool spent on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as a real gamble, with Arsenal seemingly getting the better end of a deal for a player whose contract was expiring this summer.
The England international’s last appearance for the Gunners ended in a 4-0 defeat to his new club, while his first for the Merseyside outfit was in a 5-0 loss at Manchester City. A string of abject displays from the bench thereafter had turned the 24-year-old into something of a laughing stock and it’s fair tom say that the Reds faithful were unconvinced at best of their new signing’s worth.
Oxlade-Chamberlain was always likely to take time to adjust, but his confidence looked shot to pieces and Jurgen Klopp recognised as much. Having splashed out such a high sum under the circumstances, the German might have felt some pressure to give the midfielder more minutes, but first he needed to do something that Arsene Wenger failed to do over six years.
The former Southampton graduate arrived at Anfield as a mash up of all of the players that the Frenchman had needed over the years in a variety of different positions. His best role remained undefined and his versatility had arguably been a curse more than a blessing, holding Oxlade-Chamberlain back for a number of years.
Starting the current season at the Emirates as a makeshift wing-back, Klopp has finally begun to give a player in desperate need of some clear direction a run in a position that the he himself had been keen to adopt for some time. Indeed, nine of his last 11 starts across the league and Champions League this season have been in a midfield three, and it’s a berth from which he has been largely excellent for the Reds.
Making only his second start for the club in November in the Champions League against Maribor, Oxlade-Chamberlain kept his place in the side at West Ham the following weekend to score on his first league start and restore some of that confidence that had gone awry. He’s started 15 of 24 matches in all competitions since but it’s only really following a move into the Liverpool engine room that he has excelled.
Indeed, when you exclude the midfielder’s 16 substitute appearances for the club in the Premier League his rating from 13 starts is an outstanding 7.61, while in those nine starts in central midfield in all competitions it’s higher still (7.79).
His end product is crucially improving too, with a goal or assist every 169 minutes in the league, while his approach is altogether more considered.
Formerly renowned for his dribbling ability, the Ox is now picking his moments more wisely and adopting to let the ball do the work more often. As such he’s able to contribute more to Liverpool’s pressing game by conserving the energy he was once expending with lung-busting runs that more often than not came to nothing.
Now a key member of the Reds squad in the here and now and moving forwards, the same could be said of his England prospects after he had been on the fringes of things when Gareth Southgate took the reins. Not only is Oxlade-Chamberlain now a shoo-in to go to Russia this summer, he’s a prime candidate to start in a system that suits him well and could be a vital player to the Three Lions World Cup ambitions.
