Liverpool appear to have overcome their demons as far as inconsistency and defensive unreliability are concerned with two significant victories in a row over Manchester City and West Ham United.
With four English top-flight games remaining before the World Cup kicks off in Qatar, however, the Reds have their work cut out for them to carve a path back into the heralded top four spots before late November.
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Jurgen Klopp may be feeling somewhat more confident about his side grabbing yet another victory over a struggling Nottingham Forest outfit at the weekend after telling reporters (via liverpoolfc.com): “Stability, closing gaps we left open the weeks before – not on purpose, it just happened, we played for quite a time a specific system a specific way.
“And when you get used to things you lose a little bit the desire for the detail. And because it was so well-tuned, let me say it like this, how we defended, how we pressed or how we did different things, little things can change a lot.
“That’s why we had to change a big thing and to start thinking new about it as a group, and not telling him and telling him, ‘You do differently’. Because it’s always a row of different things that happened then.
“That’s why we had to do it slightly differently. It’s actually not a big difference. It’s a change of responsibility slightly, it gave us so far more stability in different moments.
“Will we always play like this? In the last game now, to get stability again we changed to a 4-5-1 in the last few minutes, so that’s possible still. It all depends to who is available, who is fit.
“When we started the 4-4-2 we had two more strikers available, it feels like long ago but it’s only like 10 days ago that we had two more. So we have to stay open for all different possibilities what we can do and then we make decisions about that. It’s about what is best for us and what is the worst for the opponent. That’s pretty much how you try to set up, that’s what we always did and will do.”
With Curtis Jones having since returned to the squad and featured briefly against David Moyes’ men – not to mention the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita being on the way – we look set to be comfortable in the midfield department.
The continued absence of Diogo Jota, which appears to be a more significant injury than first feared, and Luis Diaz will, however, put increased pressure on our German tactician and his coaching staff as he hopes to maximise results without further burdening the treatment room.
Darwin Nunez has shone of late following his return from a three-game suspension and, likewise, Mo Salah looks a force of nature when played more centrally up top.
Klopp could look to take the pressure off either option by utilising Fabio Carvalho and Harvey Elliott on the wings, of course, particularly given ongoing concerns over a light muscle problem the Uruguayan picked up against West Ham.
Either that or another tweak to our refined system may be required to reduce the number of attacking options we have on the pitch at one time.
It’s a solution perhaps best avoided if possible given how much success we seem to be enjoying with a flexible 4-4-2 that’s capable of evolving into a 4-2-4 (or a 4-2-3-1) when in possession.
If we can manage to navigate that conundrum and successfully chart a course back into the Champions League spots before the second-half of the season, we’d have to consider that a major turnaround after a horrific start to the 2022/23 season.
After somewhat bizarre fears arose over the former Mainz head coach potentially losing his place at the Anfield helm, Klopp may be owed a serious apology by a number of commentators come November.
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