Jurgen Klopp once referred to his Liverpool side as ‘mentality monsters’, and that billing has been underlined by recent comments from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The former Reds midfielder gave a wide-ranging interview to The Athletic in which he reflected on his career to date and life at his current club Besiktas.
The 30-year-old came to Anfield from Arsenal in 2017, and he spoke of one notable difference between the two teams from his experiences of both.
Ox outlined: “At Arsenal, we always went into those big games thinking, ‘This is going to be really tough’.
“That was the biggest difference at Liverpool, where, even in the first season (2017-18) when we were a bit of an unknown entity, there was this unbelievable complete and utter focus where there was nothing else happening but us winning the game.
“I don’t know why, but at Liverpool, the big games, we just knew we were going to win.”
One of Liverpool’s greatest qualities under Klopp has been that ability to stare adversity in the face and come through the other side, perhaps never better reflected than in the epic Champions League comeback over Barcelona in 2019.
Even in the early weeks of this season, the Reds’ habit of recovering from a 1-0 deficit has shown signs of the ‘mentality monster’ mindset returning. The mind also thinks back to how we navigated the relentless run-in to the 2021/22 quadruple chase, when the players must’ve been running on empty but kept on winning.
By contrast, towards the end of Ox’s time at Arsenal, the Gunners perhaps had a reputation for being ‘soft’, as illustrated by their meek 10-2 Champions League surrender to Bayern Munich in his final season at the club.
There was also a sense of regret at how Arsene Wenger’s side failed to seize upon their traditional rivals dropping off in 2015/16 to allow Leicester to achieve their shock Premier League title triumph.
The north Londoners now appear to be made of sterner stuff under Mikel Arteta despite last season’s title charge petering out, but few teams in world football have the mental fortitude of Klopp’s Liverpool at their best.
Ox’s comments speaks volumes for the mindset that the Reds have so often had under their current boss.
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