ReactionOxlade-Chamberlain's hard work pays off in Palace win
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was delighted that a week of hard work paid off as he scored again to help Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 3-1.
Extended highlights: Palace 1-3 Liverpool
The No.15 was forced off after netting in the 3-0 win over Brentford a week ago due to an ankle injury but recovered in time to return to the Reds’ starting line-up at Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon.
For the second Premier League game in succession Oxlade-Chamberlain converted an Andy Robertson cross to put his team 2-0 up - and he was pleased to contribute to another important top-flight victory, during which Virgil van Dijk and Fabinho (penalty) were also on the mark.
“Obviously I came off last week with my ankle and I’ve been pushing and working really hard this week to make sure I got back for this game,” Oxlade-Chamberlain told Liverpoolfc.com.
“I managed to turn it around and it was nice to get back out there and I’m happy to be able to contribute again with a goal. I’m obviously filling in down that right side while Mo’s away; it’s quite big shoes to fill there in terms of goals and providing that threat in behind.
“But that’s what I tried to do and I managed to do it last week with a goal, and I was glad to back that up again today with another goal.
“Ultimately I think it helped us, it gave us that little buffer for that little dip we had. But it’s more to do with the performance and the stuff I could do off the ball as well… especially first half, I thought we did that all really well: winning the ball back and linking up together. But of course, a goal is always nice.”
Read more from our post-match interview with Oxlade-Chamberlain below…
On having to dig deep to secure a big win…
We started really well, the first 35 minutes we were playing some nice stuff. We were pressing really well, winning the ball back really well, our football was good, it was flowing and we went 2-0 up. I think we then took our foot off the gas a little bit and maybe started forcing things rather than playing the simple passes. Then we made some sloppy mistakes which gave them some big chances that Ali had to save us from. That obviously gives them a bit more confidence and I think they came back into the game a bit. The manager wasn’t happy at half-time with that and we went out there second half just knowing we needed to be a bit more dogged. I think when they pulled it back to 2-1, that was a bit of a test of character for us then, to make sure that we saw it out. It wasn’t pretty second half, but obviously in the end it was good enough and sometimes you have to win like that.
On what changed towards the end of the first half to allow Palace back into the game…
I mean, that’s the million-dollar question! Sometimes you don’t always know what it is with momentum, when a team just sort of drops the small percentages and the other team feels they have an opportunity and they lift it. They grow in confidence, maybe you drop in confidence a bit - you don’t feel it too much like that on the pitch, you just know the football is not flowing as much. If you knew every single time when that happens, why it happened and how you could stop it, it would be a lot easier!
But you just know at those times you’ve just got to do the simple things well, work hard, make tackles, work on the things we work on, the positions, pressing, winning the ball back and just trying to keep it simple. Then at the same time not letting it get too much of an effect on your performance and still play, and play with confidence. But, it doesn’t always go like that. I think, especially at a ground like this when the crowd gets up it makes it hard, similar to Anfield when we are at home and you feel that and you get that boost. I think Palace get that here as well when they get back into the game. I felt they grew in confidence with that and the crowd got up, and we just had to weather that. Obviously the penalty at the end makes it a lot easier from that point, but we had to dig deep and it was nice that we did that. We have to win ugly like that sometimes.
On Fabinho slotting home another penalty…
I thought he was going to go the other way, the other corner is usually his, the ’keeper’s right. But he managed to switch it today and take another good penalty. He works on them a lot and he’s good at them. I think Millie was stood on the sideline as well, probably eyeing it up ready to come on! But Fab did really well there. He’s scored a few now and he seems to have moved into that penalty spot [for us]. It will be interesting to see when Mo comes back if he’s still got that No.2 spot on pens! We’ll see. It was good, though, and we needed that from him.
On Alisson producing several outstanding saves…
Sometimes you get a bit complacent with expecting Ali to make those sort of saves. But he is world-class and moments like that win you games. You do sometimes get used to him doing it and you can’t take that for granted, it’s unbelievable. But it’s more disappointing from us because of the way we had the game at that point and had it fairly under control, to then have to rely on him and put him under that pressure to pull off those saves - it’s a bit sloppy from us and we weren’t happy with that. But it’s great to have him behind you in case you do [need him], and he saved us there today and was definitely a massive part of the three points. He’s brilliant and he keeps doing it so long may it continue.