Excuse me. But isn’t he suppose to carry us instead? We aren’t talking about a kid like Elliott or a freshman like Ozan. He is matured and experienced and should make himself useful when we are in such dire situation.
I like Ox, I remember those wonderful moments/performances he gave us. But he has been patchy all along his Liverpool career. It’s a good game here followed by some average ones, a flash of brilliance then disappearing from the game. I feel he is player who lacks effort, conviction. It’s like he feels his talent alone will do the trick.
The main problem with Chamberlain as a midfielder is how easy he is to play against. He isn’t reading the game well at all, he doesn’t anticipate where the ball is going to be and to put it simply he doesn’t get close enough to the opposition out of possession. When he’s playing in a midfield 3 he leaves gaps in the midfield and doesn’t cover for others. We’re essentially just crossing our fingers and hoping for one moment of quality in the game from him, which is little different to when Shaqiri plays in the midfield.
If you look at his numbers for tackling, ball recoveries, 50/50s etc, they’ve all dropped massively from 17/18 to 19/20. He’s lost the ability to play with that high intensity. If you compare him to Keita and Thiago, two players that many others keep saying come up short defensively, he is easily second best to those as well. For example - against Brighton Thiago made almost half the amount of tackles (7) that Chamberlain made in 30 league appearances last year (18).
He hasn’t done much to suggest he has the intelligence or quality to make up for the lowered intensity since that injury. I don’t see how he becomes a regular in this midfield again.
To be fair , he’s been like that throughout his career wherever he has played. I was astonished tbh when we signed him for that amount , and I was even more astonished when we gave him a new improved contract when it was still unknown whether he would fully recover from that terrible injury. I think we must accept now that he’s never going to reach the heights he once did , albeit infrequently , and that he should be one of the first out the door come the summer.
Not a regular but he can still contribute. For one thing he’s more likely to get a goal than the other midfielders. Many don’t like the sight of him coming on as a sub and he has been underwhelming but it’s clear why Klopp is trying to bring him up to speed.
Problem is that 15 minutes scattered here and there aren’t going to cut it.
I think you’re missing my point. He is not match fit. He needs games to get back in the rhythm. But he can’t get them because the midfield is not strong enough to allow him to be less than 100%
I was a little surprised why he went to LCM when he came on, he almost never played that CM side for us. We gave away a lot of stupid fouls in the obvious dangerous channel; our inside right and Leicester’s inside left. Thiago didn’t have a good game (needs to be less aggressive off the ball and a bit more secure on the ball). As for Ox in general, he needs to be really at the top of his game to start games in a row in central midfield for us. Even then, he’s got endurance issues. He’s a very direct player. Perhaps that “project” will never be what we all thought it’s got the potential to be. Not at the highest level. No big deal if that’s the case. We went up a few levels, his development his a certain ceiling and a big part were those injuries also.
Are you asking why paid that much for a player with just one year left on contract?
At that point we just had Lallana as an attacking midfielder and he was having injury issues. I think the same reason we were so desperate to sign Keita too. Also, I think Klopp wanted AOC due to his experiences in the PL.
As for the fees, all British players have a premium over what is deemed as reasonable.
He’s in an unfortunate position right now. If we had a fully fit squad (Virgil and Gomez basically), then Hendo/Fab would be in CM, giving Ox the ability to do what he does best. To get him fit however, he needs to play - it’s a catch 22. Play him into form without the key components of the team available (due to injury or being played out of position), but have to deal with him floundering a bit, which is quickly followed by unhappy fans.
Hopefully Fab is back soon and forms a CB pairing with Kabak, and we may see Ox get the games he needs to get into form.
The problem with the idea of playing Ox into form bothers me. First it means playing him for awhile whilst he is out of form and we have in form options so don’t really need to do that. Then when he gets to “form” is it going to be worth it? Since that big injury he’s only really shown flashes even when he has started to string few games together. I’m not confident Ox as he is now “in form” is the Ox in form that people are thinking of and I’m not sure it would help us as much as some seem to think. Meanwhile the likes of Thiago and Jones are really starting to flourish and Henderson has been great pinging balls around so if he comes back into midfield them 3 and Wijnaldum are all well ahead of Ox for me. Keita also always shows a bit more when available than Ox does when available so he’d be ahead for me. I’ve also really liked a lot of Shaqiris appearances lately although they’ve been more false 9/number 10 than the attacking number 8 but Ox is fast slipping down the pecking order for me.
Against Liepzig when he came on I saw a good player needing match practice. So I’ll just throw back the Klopp line with a little difference, “Klopp seems to know what he’s doing with OX” I have no worries except the silly banter doing the rounds and seen on here!
You can use AOC in the centre of the front 3, which can relieve him of his defense duties which he is weak at, while utilizing his finishing skills. Unlike Firmino, AOC can finish, and playing him at the centre of our front can reduce his duties to “shoot the ball”, which he can do well if there are opportunities.
Like many things and many players, all hopes about him is deferred to the next season. Hopefully Klopp gives him enough minutes this season so that he keeps building up a momentum.
When things are not going great at LFC or in the foodbank world of the city at the moment… not sure Ox is doing himself any favours by allowing his privileged home and lifestyle be documented and displayed in the media the way he presently is… not as though he won us the title on his own or pulling us out of the shit this season either…!
More akin to the PR team ‘one-trick’ pony Beckham got behind him all those years ago… hope he is not thinking of travelling the same route… we need all hands on deck - focused.!!
