Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp: 'Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain needs more time to adapt'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 14 October 2017

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp insists that it was too risky to throw Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in for his first league start against Manchester United as he needs to adapt.

Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he overlooked Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for inclusion in Liverpool's meeting with Manchester United as the summer signing has yet to fully adapt to his methods.

The England international has not found his feet at Anfield since making a £35m switch from Arsenal on deadline day, making all five of his Premier League appearances from the bench.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was tipped to make his first start on Saturday afternoon due to the absence of Sadio Mane in the forward line, but the versatile ace was instead restricted to another 12-minute cameo appearance from the bench as Liverpool were held to a goalless draw.

Asked about the omission, Klopp told reporters: "Ox just needs a little bit more time to adapt. He was always interrupted by two-week international breaks; always when he starts taking the next step then international break.

"These boys are used to each other and they know about [each other's] ways, so I think it makes sense against United that we do not make a lot of experiments because they are quite cool in their approach.

"They are convinced about what they are doing; sometimes a little bit deeper, sometimes a little bit higher. They don't need 80% of the ball to feel dominant in the game, so you need a formation in which everybody knows what the other player is doing in each situation."

Oxlade-Chamberlain has featured seven times for Liverpool in all competitions, being used from the off just once in the EFL Cup defeat to Leicester City.