Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images
Yesterday Chambo scored his first goal in the league since returning from that devastating injury last year.
The Liverpool Men’s team are flying right now following a 3 goal win at Bournemouth, maintaining their unbeaten streak (now the longest in the club’s history) and getting their first clean sheet… in a very long time. Jurgen Klopp even made three changes to the lineup against the Cherries, bringing in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to start.
Chamberlain has been slowly making his way back into the starting XI after missing out on most of last season with a tough knee injury. He scored his first goal in the league on Sunday since that injury, and looks ready to contribute to a busy holiday season. Especially with the help of captain Jordan Henderson, he says, if he makes the runs through defense he’s somewhat known for.
“He was probably moaning at me for the 20 minutes before that for not making enough of those runs, so I’m glad we managed to get that one right!” Oxlade-Chamberlain told the club website alongside Jordan Henderson.
“As he turned, I saw his touch and I went and he looked up and saw me straight away, and the pass was perfect. Luckily enough I could get my toe on it and finish it off, so I say thank you!”
It was the first goal of what would end up 3-0, opening things up at the 35th minute for the Reds to take full control over the match. Bournemouth didn’t go down without a fight, but losing their best defender in Nathan Ake to injury certainly didn’t help that fight.
“It was a professional performance and a very solid performance. Overall, we are delighted with that,” added Henderson.
“Offensively, I thought we were very good, we kept the ball for large periods of the game and we defended really well as well, so overall we are really pleased.”
After a slew of dramatic finishes, the calm and confident win that came from Sunday is a welcome change, with a clean sheet to boot. Alisson Becker returned in goal following his one match suspension after his red card against Brighton, which certainly helped things on the goal side, but it took a little more than that to maintain the clean sheet.
“Robbo and Millie were probably shouting at me for the last 30 minutes to just make sure we keep the clean sheet, and Robbo was shouting at me to make sure we kept it tight and be professional and not getting carried away going forward all the time,” continued Chambo.
“So, like Hendo said, it was really professional from start to finish really and I think it was probably the main thing we needed to improve on. In weeks gone by, we have gone 2-0 up and we just haven’t controlled the game well enough and we’ve made it difficult.
“Today, we learned from that and it was a really professional performance and some really top performances from all the boys.
“Naby came in and did really well, Hendo was brilliant in the middle as he always is, the boys at the back, and it was just a really good performance from everyone.”
Naby Keita came into the changed midfield, taking Georginio Wijnaldum’s usual spot, and make an impact himself. Keita scored the second goal of the day and worked to further carve his place into the XI — a rotation that definitely paid off. With two of our most creative and effective midfielders now fit and the games coming quick and fast the rest of the month, we’ll need all the help we can get.
