Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has revealed the biggest difference in mentality during his time at both Arsenal and Liverpool.
The ex-England star enjoyed six years at both clubs before calling time on his career in England by joining Turkish giants Besiktas earlier this summer. The 30-year-old was somewhat of a prodigy when he joined Arsenal from Southampton back in 2011 as an 18-year-old but made the the big-money move to Liverpool six years later when Jurgen Klopp forked out £40million for the midfielder's services.
In an interview with The Athletic, Chamberlain opened up on the biggest difference in mentality during his time with both teams as he admitted: "At Arsenal, we always went into those big games thinking, ‘This is going to be really tough’."
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"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."
Chamberlain enjoyed a trophy-laden period at Liverpool where he won the Premier League, Champions League and a host of domestic cups. Despite winning three FA Cups at Arsenal, the midfielder said the team crumbled in the big moments too many times. "We won FA Cups, but we probably never achieved what we should have done," he revealed.
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"We had unbelievable quality. Football-wise we had everything we needed to do the business. We were just missing… Belief? Toughness? Ruthlessness? “I don’t know. Maybe it was a bit of that." He looked back at the 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in 2014 and the 8-2 battering against Manchester United as key points where the team just "couldn't get over the line."
Chamberlain pointed out Leicester City's historic Premier League title victory in 2015/16 as the "most disappointing" moment during his Arsenal tenure. "We were top in January and the other so-called big teams weren’t doing well that year. But we dropped the ball in games we should have won," he added.
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