Jurgen Klopp would have unique weapon if Liverpool develop £36m trio

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Jurgen Klopp could have an interesting weapon at his disposal if Liverpool develop a trio we saw on Sunday. The Reds deployed it in the second half.

The performance against Fulham on Sunday was awful but the second half was better, at least. It also saw Jurgen Klopp deploy a trio with potential – if he sticks with it.

The boss had Roberto Firmino as a False 9 and Curtis Jones in midfield from the start. This is a duo we see real potential in, as we’ve mentioned before.

But at half-time against Fulham, Klopp formed a trio by bringing Takumi Minamino on in midfield. Now we had Jones and Minamino either side of a holding midfielder – a very attacking midfield.

And those two could end up with a very interesting connection with Firmino. It just needs time to develop.

Footwork

£29m Firmino, Jones and £7m Minamino are probably the best dribblers in tight spaces for Liverpool. You could arguably add Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane to that list but both thrive in wide positions.

The first three do it in the middle of the pitch, though. In fact, they all showed that well at Fulham. They’d dance on the edge of the box, evading challenges and trying to make things happen.

Few things did happen, of course. Jones nearly grabbed a sensational goal, while Firmino and Minamino nearly set up goals. But it wasn’t that kind of day for goals.

But the potential is there. The three of them can all make things happen without much space and together, that makes Liverpool dangerous.

Teams really have to clog the middle of the pitch to deny all three of them room to manoeuvre or they can punish you. That works in Liverpool’s favour, though, as it inevitably drags players away from the wings and forces teams to play narrow.

That, in turn, leaves space for full-backs and wingers – the team’s most dangerous players. You force teams to pick their poison, in effect.

But there’s more to it than that.

What Liverpool also have here are three players who are all comfortable in the same areas. But, importantly, they’re all comfortable drifting in and out of those areas.

Firmino will happily vacate the centre-forward space and drop back into midfield. Minamino and Jones both like to move away from midfield and get in and around the box.

That kind of movement is impossible to defend when it all clicks together. You can’t afford to leave them all to roam but you can’t risk following them, either.

Doing so will inevitably create space in the middle, which all three want.

This setup can become a nightmare for packed defences, then.

Teams sitting in their own box will typically give Liverpool the space in the middle as that isn’t the Reds’ strength. Defenders will instead watch the wings, typically in a 4-4-2.

But that flat midfield simply couldn’t cope with a Jones-Firmino-Minamino triangle. Too much movement, too much skill, and too much energy.

Teams must to readjust to deny them as much space as possible. That would simply have to come from the wings.

Changes

Getting this to work would take time. Liverpool would have to decide whether they want to invest that time in a triangle like this.

But it could give them and Klopp an interesting weapon to try out. They can’t rely on the defence, after all, and midfield casualties are seeing Minamino in the middle more and more.

And so if Liverpool have to rely on their attack, trying something new and very attacking makes sense. Especially when they have to revamp the midfield anyway.

Perhaps, then, the Firmino, Minamino, Jones triangle is worth that investment.