Oxlade-Chamberlain’s passing was hugely effective from his central position. See details below

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had kept his counsel for the best part of six months, while all the time the comments that had become seared into his psyche burned away.

That the Liverpool midfielder chose Saturday evening to unburden himself and respond to a question relating to the scathing analysis that he was subjected to from Gary Neville and Thierry Henry does not tell the full story.

Neville, in his dissection of Oxlade-Chamberlain after he made his deadline day move to Anfield in August, questioned why “everyone was eulogising over him”, suggested Arsenal had the better of a potential £40million deal, highlighted his injury record, lack of goals and assists, and said that he strengthened Liverpool’s squad, but not the team.

It sounded brutal, even if Neville