If Klopp isn't keen on Oxlade-Chamberlain why did he pay £35m for him? He's in danger of becoming the new Benteke
Get football updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
When Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain kicked a water bottle in anger as he left the Wembley pitch last night it perhaps showed just how frustrated he has become by his situation since signing for Liverpool – but it also showed he cares. He now has find a way to control that frustration and turn it into something more positive - before a nightmare month turns into a nightmare season and beyond.
The midfielder must have woken up this morning wondering if he’s made the biggest mistake of his life. If his frustration at not being used in his favourite position played a part in him seeking a move away from the Emirates, at least when he was there he got to start games.
Whatever he imagined life would be like when he turned down a new Arsenal contract to make the big-money move north to Anfield, it can’t have involved him sitting on the bench for all but one of the seven games Liverpool have played since.
The one game he did start was in the League Cup, a game where Jürgen Klopp played more of his fringe and up-and-coming players, his first real chance to show Liverpool what he can do. He didn’t really take that chance.
(Image: Getty Images Europe/Getty Images)
To be fair to him, his Reds career didn’t get off to the best of starts. He made his debut from the bench and played the whole of the second half – but it was on the day Liverpool were on the wrong end of a 5-0 mauling by Manchester City. Nobody was going to rescue that game.
If the chance to keep playing in the Champions League played a part in his decision to move on from Arsenal that hasn’t worked out the best either. His second appearance for Liverpool was in the Reds’ opening group fixture – but he only got on the pitch with two minutes left on the clock.
Klopp took him to Moscow for the second group game, against Spartak, but decided against using him, despite still having one substitution left.
That City game aside, when he has come off the bench for Klopp it has always been late in the game. Against Burnley and Leicester in the league he came on close to the eightieth minute, against Newcastle is was with six minutes to go. Those types of substitutions are more about protecting the fitness of first-choice players than attempts to change games.
(Image: PA)
If Klopp doesn’t see Oxlade-Chamberlain as a game-changer and isn’t ready to give him a start the fee Liverpool paid begins to sound ludicrous.
Liverpool broke their transfer record this summer with the purchase of Mo Salah for £36.9m, until then the club record fee was £35m – the amount the Reds paid for Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Not only did Liverpool pay their second highest transfer fee for the ex-Arsenal player, they paid it when his contract was close to running down.
Fans expect players to hit the ground running when that kind of money is shelled out but Oxlade-Chamberlain seems to be a million miles away from being that kind of player.
There is a very big risk Oxlade-Chamberlain could become Klopp’s Benteke, the expensive player that just didn’t quite fit.
(Image: Action Images via Reuters)
Liverpool weren’t playing the type of football that catered to Christian Benteke’s strengths and when Brendan Rodgers brought him in as the answer to the Reds’ troubles in front of goal post-Suarez it played a part in the manager finally losing his already precarious job.
Fans were frustrated with Benteke but the root cause of the issue wasn’t that he was doing anything wrong – he was just the wrong player. It wasn’t his fault, it was the fault of those at Anfield who identified him as a good signing. Has that happened again?
Klopp is nowhere near the stage of losing his job yet and Oxlade-Chamberlain obviously hasn’t been brought in for the same reason as Benteke – but where does the England star fit into a Klopp side?
Klopp doesn’t play with wing backs and doesn’t play with out-and-out wingers, expecting his wider front men – like Salah and Sadio Mané – to play a more dynamic role.
(Image: AFP/Getty)
One of the players Oxlade-Chamberlain is up against for a starting place is Philippe Coutinho, who has the versatility to play in a various positions without losing any of his quality. The Reds midfield are often asked to play in different roles to what they might prefer or be used to – ask Adam Lallana, who thrived from a change in role handed to him by Klopp.
Whilst Oxlade-Chamberlain is unlikely to be asked to play as a wing-back by Klopp, he will have to get used to the idea of playing in different roles – something he is more than capable of doing.
What he also has to get used to is Klopp’s style of play and one possibility is that the German manager feels his new signing still needs time to do that. But in Oxlade-Chamberlain’s defence, he’s going to take even longer to get used to it if he’s not getting the chance to do it in real life.
(Image: Getty)
What happens on the training ground is very different to what happens in a match and Klopp has to start taking a chance on the player sooner rather than later. If not, why spend £35m on him?
As Oxlade-Chamberlain thinks about his situation he needs to take heart from the fact that he is a good player, that he’s not had anywhere near enough of a chance to shine yet and that he’s only been at his new club a month.
There is plenty of time for Oxlade-Chamberlain to come good, but it isn’t all down to him. It is in situations like this that the top managers in football earn their corn and Jürgen Klopp is more than capable of that.