Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain claims Liverpool’s Premier League title pain in 2018-19 made them even more determined to succeed, with there acceptance at Anfield that 97 points was “not enough”.
The Reds were pipped to the post in agonising fashion last season as a stunning finish to the campaign by Manchester City saw the English top-flight crown remain at the Etihad Stadium.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were able to counter that disappointment by claiming Champions League glory and kicked on into the current campaign.
Just one defeat was suffered through 29 games before football shut down amid the coronavirus outbreak, with a 25-point lead opened up at the top of the table.
Liverpool are now waiting to discover whether they will be freed to get over the line, but Oxlade-Chamberlain says an unshakable winning mentality has been established on Merseyside.
The England international told the Reds’ official website on being denied a title triumph by City: “You can look at it two ways. You can look at it in the sense of, how do you get 97 points and finish off second best? That, mentally for the lads, I think was a big challenge. You almost can’t get a more perfect season.
“You might have, you know, the season before City obviously got 100 points. So we’re talking one game, one win difference – you expect to win with that. So, I think first of all it was sort of another heightened respect for Man City as a team, to go 100 points and then 98 back to back, that takes a lot of doing.
“Mentally, as a group of players, I think that’s maybe where we thought, ‘Alright, 97 points not good enough’ and I remember the manager saying we’ve got to do more. Simple as that.
“He was adamant that’s not enough, you’ve got to do more, and I think it’s a credit to us in what we’ve done so far this season, the boys are doing more and obviously this is a strange time because you talk about momentum and that’s the same for every team at the minute, but it’s not finished yet. We’re close but we’re not finished yet, but up to this point we are doing more.
“At the minute we’ve been doing that but whenever we’re able to kick off again we’ve got a job to finish so we can’t get carried away yet.”
Liverpool are desperate to see the 2019-20 campaign played to a finish, as they wait on a first title in 30 years, but Oxlade-Chamberlain admits health concerns have to take priority at present.
The 26-year-old added: “Whatever happens, we as a club know what we’ve achieved up to this point and we believe in what we could go on and do for the rest of the season and beyond that, and I think that’s important to know, that we’ve achieved something up to this point; it’s not the end goal but it’s all we could do up to now.
“Whatever is out of our control is out of our control as a group of people, as a football club, as players, as fans so just take care of themselves, look after themselves and their loved ones, and whenever we’re able to get back I look forward to seeing them again.”