Struggling Liverpool “Just Weren’t Good Enough” Says Oxlade-Chamberlain

Two steps forward, one step back. That might just about sum up Liverpool’s current situation, as the Reds followed up a pair of Premier League victories that seemed to have put them back in the thick of the top four race with a disheartening defeat.

If the teams ahead of them now win their game in hand, it will put them six points off the pace. Hardly insurmountable in isolation, but at the moment few would bet on this struggling side to slip up at least two fewer times than the teams they’re chasing.

“We just weren’t good enough,” was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s response to Monday’s quite thoroughly deserved 3-1 defeat to Brentford. “We knew it was going to be a difficult game, we knew their threat around the set-pieces and we didn’t do well enough.

“We got away with a couple with VAR ruling them out, but they were the warning signs and in the end we conceded a sloppy second goal. At times we did well and created some good moments but we didn’t carry on doing the things that got us that success.”

The good news for Liverpool is that every side around them in the table has also had issues with consistency. The bad news is that, given the current standings, Liverpool will have to find a way to improve their own form—to be more consistent—to close the gap.

Watching the at times lethargic and disorganized performance against Brentford, that they will be able to seems far from certain. Worse, the team-wide malaise which has now carried over post-World Cup doesn’t seem likely to be fixed by a single new signing.

Next up for the struggling Reds are Wolves in the FA Cup, with rotation likely given the necessary focus on the league play, which resumes on the 14th against Brighton before games against Chelsea, Wolves again, and then local rivals Everton.