Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has not had the best of starts to his Liverpool career since his big money move from rivals Arsenal on deadline day. The Englishman’s first game was as a sub in the 5-0 hammering at the hands of Manchester City and he has failed to do much since moving to Anfield.
A couple of draws against Sevilla and Burnley were followed by a limp performance in his first start for us. Oxlade-Chamberlain was poor in the 2-0 loss against Leicester City in the Carabao Cup, which saw us get knocked out of the competition.
That performance saw a number of fans, both from Liverpool and other clubs targeting the 24-year old but Jurgen Klopp seems to be defending the Englishman as the German was speaking to the press before our game against the Foxes again, this time in the Premier League.
The game would be played at the King Power Stadium and Klopp added that the Ox was actually injured but the German had no doubts that the former Arsenal man would come good for us.
Klopp was quoted by the Express as saying:
“He had some unlucky situations and little problem with his calf. I’m not in doubt (about his quality).”
There is a chance that the Ox does start for us in the league clash against the Foxes too but the major worry would be the goals that we keep on conceding. Klopp also highlighted that facet and stated that we need to respond better to conceding goals.
“We responded really well to conceding first goal vs Sevilla and Burnley, but we didn’t vs Leicester. I prefer not to concede 1st goal.”
The Ox Needs To Fire And Fast
We signed Oxlade-Chamberlain in a bit of a surprise deal on the final day of the transfer window and the former Arsenal man rejected lucrative offers from the Gunners and Chelsea too to join us, as he earns an estimated £120,000-a-week at Anfield.
There must be something in the Englishman which saw Klopp move for him and truth be told, we have to give the Ox more time on the pitch.
If Klopp’s statement is true, we should get to see better performances from the Ox in future games but for now, we will have to hope for a better showing against the Foxes.
Losing another game would be a huge blow to an already fragile side and maybe some Ox magic can help us clinch three points against Leicester.
