Andy Robertson and Oxlade-Chamberlain praised after impressing during Liverpool's win over Bournemouth
KEY POINTS
- Robertson has started the last four games in the absence of Moreno.
- Oxlade-Chamberlain impressed in his preferred attacking midfield position against Bournemouth.
Mohamed Salah has earned plaudits since his arrival from AS Roma in the summer, and rightly so, owing to his impressive performances that have seen him score 20 goals in 26 appearances for Liverpool thus far this campaign.
However, two other players are also slowly building up their performances after taking a few months to adapt to Jurgen Klopp's style of play - Andy Robertson, who signed from Hull City and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who arrived from Arsenal in a £40m ($53.5m) deal.
The duo have struggled for regular game time since their arrival, but they have broken into the starting XI in recent weeks and begun to impress onlookers with their performances.
Robertson has started the last four games in the absence of Alberto Moreno, while Oxlade-Chamberlain has started four of the last six and the most recent against Bournemouth was in his preferred central midfield position. Liverpool legend John Aldridge has praised the duo and believes they were good additions to the Reds squad in the summer.
Both the players shone as the Merseyside club took their unbeaten run in the Premier League to nine games with a 4-0 thrashing of Bournemouth and Aldridge believes it was the former Arsenal midfielder's best game for the Reds. He also praised Robertson's offensive and defensive play after his good link up play with Philippe Coutinho, who was again impressive with one goal and an assist.
"There were plenty of good performances for the Reds at the Vitality Stadium," Aldridge wrote in his column for the Liverpool Echo.
"I was pleased with Andy Robertson, and for Dejan Lovren in getting a goal after all the stick last week, that was good to see.
"Robertson gives us real width, he can defend and he links with Coutinho really well," the former Reds forward explained. "He showed great desire - he was in the centre-forward position a couple of times - and he did really well."
"It was also probably Oxlade-Chamberlain's best game for Liverpool and in the position he wants to play in centre midfield," Aldridge added talking about the former Arsenal star. "Another excellent buy. I always knew he was a good player and he's getting better game by game."
"What he did on the TV in the Coutinho interview was brilliant, looking after a teammate," he said, referring to Oxlade-Chamberlain defending Coutinho when the post-match interviewer tried asking the Brazilian questions regarding his future taking the focus away from the latter's performance during the win.
"Jordan Henderson played well and you can't knock anyone. It was a good team performance all round."