Oxlade-Chamberlain: That's what we practised at Melwood
Liverpool executed a plan formulated on the pitches at Melwood this week in beating Newcastle United at Anfield, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has revealed.
The visitors' deep-lying defence frustrated the Reds for large parts of the first half, but a patient approach was rewarded in the 40th minute when Mohamed Salah opened the scoring after good work from Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Sadio Mane then doubled that advantage early in the second period thanks to yet more slick play, allowing the hosts to cruise to a three points that takes them up to second in the Premier League.
Speaking after full-time, Oxlade-Chamberlain explained how the victory over the Magpies owed much to the work done at the training ground during the build-up.
He told beIN Sports: "We expected that they'd be really hard to break down and well organised, Rafa Benitez sides always are, so we've been working on different ways to break them down this week.
"Obviously trying to play football and finding spaces in between the lines can be hard but we've always got the option, with the pace up front and the willingness of runners in behind, to go direct.
"If we don't manage to find the first ball in behind, we always know to push and maybe create something off the second ball.
"In the end, the first goal was a bit of a ricochet in midfield and it broke to me and I managed to find the space in behind and then set up Mo.
"We've been working on that, we knew it wasn't going to be easy and we had to work for it but I think we did that in the end."
Oxlade-Chamberlain's assist for Salah's opener was just one of many positive exchanges between the pair throughout Saturday's fixture.
Reflecting on his on-pitch relationship with the prolific Egyptian, the midfielder added: "We set up both on the right-hand side and there's quite a lot of interchange.
"He's such a good runner off the ball, he makes such good runs, and it makes it easy for me or whoever to find him.
"Even balls that aren't the best he can turn into good balls and then when he gets on the end of them he's got amazing ability to find space for a shot.
"Today it was a little bit easier for him; I managed to find him with a good ball that was easy enough for him to finish, especially with the form he's in."
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The No.21 also hailed Jürgen Klopp's passionate appeal to his players not to allow their intensity to drop after going two goals ahead.
He continued: "Even at 2-0 in this league it's never over and I think Newcastle showed [that], they had their moments going forward and if we weren't fully focused they could punish us.
"The manager was making sure we stayed focused and didn't drop off and it's always good when you've got that mentality to keep going right until the end.
"Sometimes, the best form of defence is to keep attacking, so we did that for a while and managed to shut up shop at the end and see it out."