The summer weeks of Liverpool's pre-season gave Jurgen Klopp and his staff a rare chance to take a step back and think.
A month-long stay away from Merseyside, divided between three weeks in Austria before a final few days in France, was the ideal moment for those in the inner circle to plot.
Liverpool 's schedule, one that often sees them play three times a week, means there is often little prospect of developing fresh tactical blueprints on the pitches of the AXA Training Centre.
And the continuity that exists within a squad who have largely remained together for the past four years also means the opportunity to formulate a new strategy was one Klopp and his team needed to take before the Premier League season began.
In other words, the lack of incomings on the transfer front, wherever you stand on that divisive topic, left rivals knowing what to expect from the same group of Liverpool players in the analysis meetings.
So during those conversations on the bus journeys across Austria back in July, Klopp and his assistant, Pep Lijnders, began brainstorming.
Lijnders has often spoken of the side's need to stay "unpredictable" and given the relative lack of new faces between the summers of 2018 and 2021, such a quality would have to come from within the existing ranks.
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It was here where the plan to reinvent Liverpool's attack once more was hatched.
"A lot of clubs try to invest a lot of money to become better than us so we have to be harder to beat and fight harder to overcome all those things," one source told the ECHO at the time.
The return of Harvey Elliott to his parent club, following a successful spell on loan with Blackburn Rovers, gave Klopp another option and the idea to convert the winger into a central midfielder started to gather pace.
The teenager started against Stuttgart in a midfield three alongside James Milner and Naby Keita as the club took the unusual decision to play two matches on the same evening on July 20.
He continued his summer schedule getting to grips with the role as all indications pointed towards Elliott being the Gini Wijnaldum replacement that so many craved at the time.
After adapting to the demands of a Klopp midfield in the non-competitive arena, Elliott would be given a start against Burnley at Anfield in August as Liverpool hosted a full house for the first time since March 2020.
That same month, Elliott's progress was rewarded with a start in the biggest game of his career to date when Chelsea visited on a warm, late-August evening.
It was against Burnley, though, that the fruits of the summer's labour would start to show.
With Elliott encouraged to drift wide to supplement an already explosive right side of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah, Liverpool's second goal on the day was textbook.
From Virgil van Dijk's long ball, Elliott took his position out on the flank, playing it in field to Alexander-Arnold, whose first-time pass laid in Sadio Mane to double the advantage against Sean Dyche's team.
"There was no real talking involved," Alexander-Arnold told The Athletic recently on an assist he believes is his finest of the campaign to date.
"The triangle just flowed really nicely and I was able to find myself in that area and flick it around to Sadio."
Alexander-Arnold may seek to play down the tactic, referring to it almost nonchalantly as a by-product of quality players dovetailing, but the idea to bring one of the most outstanding attacking right-backs in world football into a more central area has been deliberate.
Jordan Henderson has mainly filled in for Elliott as that right-sided midfielder during the youngster's recovery from a long-term ankle injury sustained at Leeds in September and the captain has been able to help Alexander-Arnold flourish centrally.
With 10 assists to his name already this season - the most in the top flight - only Cesc Fabregas and Wayne Rooney were younger than the 23-year-old when they reached the 40 figure in Premier League history.
"We get instruction, of course, but I'd probably say we've just been given a lot more freedom on the pitch - and on that right-hand side - to interchange positions and for it to flow," Alexander-Arnold says on the new role.
"For instance, you might find me inside in midfield and maybe Hendo out wide and Mo as a striker or rotating all the time.
"You'll see Mo sometimes dropping deep and getting a few touches on the ball.
"So it flows really well, especially this season and especially now that we've got a much better understanding of each other's games.
"We all understand what we want and what we expect from each other."
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Another picturebook example of Alexander-Arnold's new responsibilities came in the 2-2 draw with Chelsea earlier this month.
With Henderson on the outside, the right-back floated a ball through to Salah from a central area to allow the Egypt star to get himself into the opposition area before he finished it off with aplomb.
Between Salah and Alexander-Arnold this season, they have contributed 210 shot-creating actions (offensive phases of play that directly lead to a shot) with the duo responsible for 46 goals and assists for the Reds already.
Alexander-Arnold, speaking to the club's official programme, says: "We understand that we're both kind of match-winners in our ways and if we can give each other as much ball and as many opportunities to go and win the game for the team, that's what we need to do.
"So I'm always trying to look for him in and around the box and give him the ball to let him go and express himself or get involved in the game.
"In the Arsenal league game, for example, he was laying it back for a cross or there was the last goal where I got around him and he slid me down the line and I was able to pull it across for Taki (Minamino) to score.
"So it's understanding where we want the ball and how we can help each other's games and, hopefully, take it to another level."
Elliott, despite his limited involvement, has posted 15 shot-creating actions of his own, which bodes well as he closes in on a return to first-team training after his horrendous injury.
It is one of the reasons why there is such a buzz around the teenager at present and while his comeback won't be rushed by those within the club, the excitement to see him back will be palpable as his recovery goes on.
It is a tantalising thought for Liverpool fans that both Elliott and Salah can be back on that right side alongside Alexander-Arnold at some point this season to continue to the next stage of the attacking evolution under Klopp.
