Oxlade-Chamberlain scored his first goals in 18 months as Liverpool thrashed Genk in the Champions League
Thursday 24 October 2019 15:34, UK
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was reserved in his praise for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain after the midfielder marked his return to the Champions League with two goals.
The England midfielder, who missed virtually all of last season with a serious knee injury and has not featured in the Champions League for 18 months, scored the first two in a 4-1 win against Genk - the second a sublime strike off the underside of the crossbar with the outside of his foot.
"It was absolutely a great moment for him, but I would say with Ox his performance was exactly the same as the performance of the team - the goals were great but all the rest could have been better,' said Klopp.
"That's how it is, but it's no problem. The (second) goal was sensational and very important for us. Wonderful.
"On Sunday, Adam (Lallana) scored the goal, and now Ox has scored two goals. It's really nice. Absolutely great, a great story."
Liverpool led 1-0 after a messy first half in which the hosts could have scored three times.
Part of that was due to Klopp fielding an untested midfield of Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and Fabinho and also because he was without 50 per cent of his regular back four with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joel Matip absent.
"We had good moments, a lot of good moments, and made a very good start," said Klopp.
"Then had another 10 or 15 minutes absolutely okay, exactly as we had to do it.
"The plan worked okay then not any more because we lost completely unexpected balls we were not ready for, which in the formation was not possible.
"Sometimes we took in the wrong moments a risk, passing a one-two in a very tight situation makes not too much sense.
"We had to defend their balls with legs and had to run for it. They got a bit of momentum which after our start was completely unnecessary but that's what happened.
"It was a pretty stiff first half. Then we scored the second goal, by the way the first goal was very brilliant and the second goal even nicer, and all our goals were unbelievably beautiful.
"After the second it was a proper knock for Genk it looked like and we scored the third and fourth.
"We conceded one which wasn't cool but it's not the biggest problem in the world. We won the game, job done. That's it."
Former Liverpool midfielder Harry Kewell told The Debate:
"Personally, I feel Liverpool need another striker. I know it sounds crazy because the front three are amazing, but I think they need another one to test the top three. I've got nothing against Divock Origi - and I think he's a fantastic player and does his part.
"But I would love to see someone challenge their front three to really keep them on their game. Sadio Mane is on fire at the moment, Mohamed Salah has been but he's not at the moment, and Roberto Firmino does a lot of the dog work, but still doesn't score enough.
"I would love to have seen [Antoine] Griezmann there. I think he's fantastic and is their type of player. The option of competing to get into a top team, challenging for titles, would have been the incentive."
Sky Sports' Paul Merson added:
"I always feel that if one of the front three doesn't play, it weakens them so much. If they are going to bring in another player to challenge them, it's going to be another £80m or £100m player.
"If you say to them that we want you to come to Liverpool and they ask 'where am I going to play?' And they're told, 'well, you're not playing' - that's the problem. Tottenham have had it for the last five years - they've had a team from one to 11.
"I wouldn't say the squad is majorly strong. I think if Virgil van Dijk went missing for six weeks, I'd be shocked if they didn't drop points. Or if two of the three got injured up front, I think they would struggle.
"You need to build on success."
Sky Sports' Peter Smith…
Eighteen months separated Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's last two Champions League appearances. And after his long, long battle back from the bad knee injury he suffered in the semi-finals of the competition in April 2018, his splendid double in Liverpool's win at Genk on Wednesday night were sweet moments.
All of those hours in the treatment room and the endless gym sessions he had to endure - while his team-mates were lighting up the Premier League and on their way to lifting the Champions League - they all led up to these match-winning moments, which Oxlade-Chamberlain will no doubt cherish for a long time to come.
But this is not the end of the journey. Oxlade-Chamberlain is now in contention to become a key part of Liverpool's midfield as they push for a first Premier League title and mount a Champions League defence.
Boss Jurgen Klopp clearly admires his attributes - the fact Oxlade-Chamberlain was handed a new long-term contract in August underlined Liverpool's faith in the midfielder. And his performance in Belgium demonstrated the pressing, the passing and the panache Oxlade-Chamberlain can bring to this Liverpool side.
There's hot competition in the middle of the park - Naby Keita, Jordan Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum, James Milner, Adam Lallana and Xherdan Shaqiri will all be competing for similar roles to Oxlade-Chamberlain. But the Ox is back and has made a memorable statement of why he deserves to be a central figure this season.
