Mohamed Salah believes Jurgen Klopp's new look Liverpool attack "worked well" as they started with four attackers on Tuesday night.
The Reds, who for so long have played a 4-3-3 formation, moved away from that so that they could accommodate another forward. Darwin Nunez led the line alongside Diogo Jota also playing centrally, while Salah and Luis Diaz took up their usual spots on the flanks.
The new-look system didn't hold Liverpool back as they beat Rangers 2-0 at Anfield - a convincing victory during which they had 60 per cent of possession and 23 shots. Klopp only made his players aware of the change of system 24 hours before the game, but Salah felt it worked for all four attackers.
Speaking after the match, the Egyptian told UEFA : “The gaffer told us yesterday about the formation and we just tried to adapt. I think it was working well, we created many chances in the first half and second half, we tried to score. It’s an offensive formation. It was good for all of us up front, especially because we all want to score goals. It worked well today.”
Liverpool haven't struggled to score goals this season, notching 23 times in their 10 games across all competitions. However, they have struggled defensively and the change of formation proved to be beneficial for the backline, who kept a rare clean sheet.
The change also ensures that Klopp can keep his forwards happy. None of the starting quartet have hit their straps so far in the league, with Salah scoring just twice, Jota still building sharpness following his injury lay-off and Nunez yet to live up to expectations.
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Reflecting on his side's display, Klopp said: “It was a really good defensive performance in a new structure. Offensively, we created an awful lot. I liked it a lot. The way the boys upfront moved together was extremely good for only one session working on it. We never did it before, we did one session and that was low intensity because we only played recently.
"You just see how good a striker Darwin is to be constantly in these situations. I think everybody saw that this [scoring goals] will happen.”
Despite starting with so many attackers, Trent Alexander-Arnold felt that the new system made Liverpool more compact, thus making them harder to play against. The right-back has copped criticism for his defensive flaws but looked comfortable against the Scottish side.
He said: “We went back to a bit more of a basic 4-4-2 and played it really well. We shifted across the pitch really well and we made it compact - they couldn’t play through us. They were playing a lot of long balls and stuff like that and we were winning the second balls. The change in tactics definitely helped us.”
