Jurgen Klopp brings Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain back down to earth with Liverpool performance review

Not so hot shot: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Liverpool FC via Getty Images
David Lynch23 October 2019

Jurgen Klopp offered a dispassionate assessment of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's two-goal showing at Genk on Wednesday evening, insisting: "the goals were great but all the rest could have been better."

Making his first start in the Champions League since suffering a terrible knee injury against Roma 18 months ago, the Liverpool midfielder found the back of the net with a low, long-distance strike after just two minutes of play.

And he added a further goal in impudent fashion in the second half, curling an outside-of-the boot finish over the keeper and in off the bar from the edge of the area.

But, while Klopp was delighted to see Oxlade-Chamberlain enjoying an important milestone in his return during a 4-1 win, he noted several areas for improvement on both an individual and collective level.

He said: “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.

“That's how it is, but it's no problem. The goal were sensational and very important for us. Wonderful.

“On Sunday, Adam scored the goal, and now Ox has scored two goals. It's really nice. Absolutely great, a great story."

The German went on to explain that he was less than pleased with his team's performance in possession during a first half that saw Genk threaten regularly on the break.

“We had good moments, a lot of good moments, and made a very good start. Then had another 10 or 15 minutes absolutely okay, exactly as we had to do it," he continued.

“They set up in a 4-4-2 so they had a midfield press we had to play around, we had to be flexible and did that well.

“We didn't create too much but we kept them busy pretty much, we looked to find the gaps and pass the ball through. That was the plan and it worked okay, then not anymore 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 could show the boys a couple of spaces which they could ad should use in the second 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."

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