Matthew Upson heaped praise on Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain ahead of the Reds taking on Genk on Tuesday.
The Sky Sports pundit shared that he thought Oxlade-Chamberlain was playing with a sort of “don’t care” attitude as he was trying things he has never done before.
Upson praised the goals Oxlade-Chamberlain has managed to score this season and claimed that he offered Jurgen Klopp a more powerful and dominant attacking option to choose from in midfield.
“He has had some impact though? I mean the goals he has scored…I’ve not seen him strike the ball or even try those before,” said Upson on Football Centre (Sky Sports News, 10:23, Tuesday, November 5th).
“He looks like a player who is full of confidence and almost has an ‘I don’t care attitude’, and he is doing some brilliant things on the pitch so I’d be really interesting to see how he develops.
“He does offer a more powerful…dominant attacking option, he drives with the ball really well.”
OPINION
Oxlade-Chamberlain is on the fringes of Liverpool’s squad this season, after slipping down the pecking order while out injured in the 2018/19 campaign, and is clearly doing all he can to climb the club’s rankings. The 26-year-old has featured in 12 games so far this season, never completing 90 minutes, and has impressively contributed three goals as well as one assist to the cause. Oxlade-Chamberlain has also looked lively in the majority of his outings, which is a very positive sign, as he has averaged 1.6 shots and 1.1 dribbles per match across his league outings so far (Source: WhoScored). Granted Oxlade-Chamberlain is yet to get off the mark in the Premier League this season, but most of his minutes are coming in other competitions. The midfielder likely finds it easier to excel when playing a huge chunk of a game, rather than being deployed as an impact sub which has been mostly the case in his league outings, and it’s just all about him waiting for his chances and taking them when they come.
