Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has offered an interesting insight into the bare minimum that Liverpool’s 2019/20 side asked of each other, instilling the fear factor that Jurgen Klopp demanded.
The 2019/20 edition of Liverpool Football Club was extraordinary, with Klopp leading his side to simultaneously hold the title of English, European and World champions.
It was a side that had it all, and in an interview with the Anfield Wrap, Oxlade-Chamberlain, now of Celtic, explained the ethos behind the Reds’ world-class press and what it took to make it work.
“It was one game at a time cliche,” the 32-year-old explained of the title-winning season. “It was just every time you stepped on the pitch, you knew what was expected.
Join TIA YouTube
Subscribe to This Is Anfield on YouTube
Join over 370,000 subscribers to get the latest LFC videos to your feed
“You know the small basics of how we’d press, if one person runs out of position to press somewhere crazy, two fill in, or if he goes, I’m following, even if I think he’s nuts for going.
“These were just little fundamentals that we had and the manager instilled in us for a long time, that we almost just seemed to do that at the bare minimum.
“It sounds strange for a professional athlete, maybe, to say that doesn’t always happen, but it just takes one or two to not if you’re trying to press and one or two don’t, then everyone’s dead.”
Accountability, therefore, was paramount, but Klopp was not the only one demanding and policing what the squad did, or did not do.
Liverpool 2019/20 Season: A quick look
Metric Statistic LFC Rank
Games Played 38 —
Wins 32 1st
Draws 3 19th (Lowest)
Defeats 3 1st (Fewest)
Goals For 85 2nd
Goals Against 33 1st (Best Defence)
Total Points 99 Champions
Note: Liverpool won the title with seven games to spare, a Premier League record.
“The manager was good at instilling [it],” Oxlade-Chamberlain continued. “He had that fear factor for one about him. You knew if you didn’t, you were going to get told every time.
“We had players that would also do the same if you weren’t at the standards of pressing, and we’d police ourselves.
“So, there was that fear factor, and then he would also praise you for doing it well. I’m getting praised for tackling someone. I’ve never had praise as a winger or a forward for blocking something for a throw-in.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY - Tuesday, August 13, 2019: Liverpool's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain during a training session ahead of the UEFA Super Cup match between Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC at Besiktas Park. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
“You turn around and he’s fist-pumping the crowd, and he was good at rewarding those 30 things that people don’t necessarily notice, maybe that was a great, clever way of making us do that all the time.
“To the point he didn’t have to tell us, ‘You’ve got to do this all the time or press there’, we’d just know and we did it.
“We would just go onto the pitch and do that, and we won a lot of games.
“I think those little things can be the difference on those days when it’s not quite clicking. Don’t get me wrong, we had great players, right?
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Sunday, June 2, 2019: Liverpool’s James Milner, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and captain Jordan Henderson during an open-top bus parade through the city after winning the UEFA Champions League Final. Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur. 2-0 in Madrid. To claim their sixth European Cup. (Pic by Paul Greenwood/Propaganda)
“We had Mo scoring goals, Sadio, Bobby, like we had great players that could score. But the bare minimum things we’d always do 99 percent of the time.
“That was effort, pressing, we’d make it difficult. The manager always used to say, ‘Every game, we’re going to the most horrible team these lot have ever faced’.
“You look around at the quality in the room, but that was always the starting point. As long as we always did that, we had a good chance to win the game, especially when Mo had his shooting boots on all the time!”
A reminder of the need for leaders, identity and standards when pursuing success.
Join TIA WhatsApp
Follow us on WhatsApp
Join 5,000+ Reds for instant alerts and breaking news direct to your phone