Liverpool seem to have overcome their demons when it comes to inconsistency and defensive unreliability with two important wins in a row over Manchester City and West Ham United.
However, with four English top-flight games to go before the World Cup kicks off in Qatar, the Reds have their work cut out for them to fight their way back to the announced top four places before the end of November.
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Jurgen Klopp may feel somewhat more confident his side will get another win over a struggling Nottingham Forest side at the weekend after telling reporters (via liverpoolfc.com): “Stability, closing the gaps we left open the previous weeks, not on purpose, it just happened, we played for quite some time a specific system in a specific way.
“And when you get used to things you lose a bit of the desire for detail. And because it was so finely tuned, let me put 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 something big and start thinking about it again as a group, and not say and say, ‘You do it different.’ Because it’s always a row of different things that happened then.
“That’s why we had to do it a little bit differently. It’s actually not a big difference. It’s a slight change of responsibility, it gave us more stability so far at different times.
“Will we always play like this? Now, in the last game, to get the stability back, we switched to 4-5-1 in the last few minutes, so it’s still possible. It all depends on who is available, who is fit.
“When we started the 4-4-2 we had two more strikers available, it seems like a long time ago but it’s been like 10 days since we had two more. So we have to be open to all the different possibilities of what we can do and then we make decisions about it. It’s about what’s best for us and what’s worst for the opponent. That’s more or less how you try to prepare, that’s what we always did and will do.”
Now that Curtis Jones has returned to the squad and featured briefly against David Moyes’s men, not to mention the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita are on the way, it looks like we’re comfortable in the midfield department.
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The continued absence of Diogo Jota, who seems to be a more important injury than initially feared, and Luis Diaz, however, will put more pressure on our German tactician and his coaching staff as he hopes to maximize results without overloading plus the treatment room.
Darwin Nunez has shone of late following his return from a three-game suspension and likewise Mo Salah looks like a force of nature when played more centrally up front.
Klopp could look to ease the pressure of either option by using Fabio Carvalho and Harvey Elliott on the wings, of course, particularly given ongoing concerns about a minor muscle problem the Uruguayan had against West Ham.
That or another adjustment to our refined system may be required to reduce the number of attacking options we have on the field at one time.
It is a solution that is perhaps best avoided if possible given the success we seem to have with a flexible 4-4-2 that is able to evolve into a 4-2-4 (or 4-2-3-1) when it is in possession. .
If we manage to get around that dilemma and successfully chart a path back to the Champions League places before the second half of the season, we would have to consider that a huge turnaround after a horrible start to the 2022/23 season.
After somewhat bizarre fears were raised about the former Mainz head coach potentially losing his place at the helm of Anfield, several commentators may owe Klopp a serious apology in November.
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