OPINION
Many Liverpool fans will surely have to lower their expectations over what to expect from midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the opening weeks of the season, given the club are treading carefully with him.
The Liverpool Echo reported on Saturday that the 25-year-old was absent from the Reds’ squad that trained at Fenway Park on Saturday as he was following his own specialist training programme.
The regional newspaper added that Liverpool are being careful not to over-exert the midfielder after he was sidelined for 349 days with a serious knee injury in recent times. (Source: Transfermarkt)
This is an incredibly smart move by the Reds as utilising Oxlade-Chamberlain too much or pushing him too hard, could easily see him end up back on the sidelines.
The 25-year-old managed to play only 19 minutes of league action in his latest campaign, as per Transfermarkt, and the friendly game against Borussia Dortmund saw him play the most minutes he had for a while, as he roughly got 60 minutes under his belt.
However, given this, many Liverpool fans surely need to lower their expectations regarding how good Oxlade-Chamberlain will be in his 2018/19 campaign as even the club seem aware that it could be while until he gets fully back up to speed.
A large section of Liverpool supporters are understandably getting excited about seeing the 25-year-old regularly featuring again, given his talents and recent display against Dortmund.
During the friendly with the German giants, Oxlade-Chamberlain looked calm and composed on the ball, while confident enough to try some skill moves and this saw many Reds go wild for him on social media, as well as saw one supporter compare him to Ronaldinho.
Also when Oxlade-Chamberlain was fit for the Reds in his 2017/18 campaign, he managed seven assists and three goals in 35 league outings and impressively averaged 1.2 shots per game as well as having a pass completion rate of 82.6%. (Source: WhoScored)
Yet based on the Reds wisely being careful and Oxlade-Chamberlain still being on a specialised training problem, maybe Reds fans should cool their hopes for him, until the season is well and truly underway.
