A diamond, a mad Uruguayan and an old Chelsea forward: Jurgen Klopp takes Liverpool back in time

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Jurgen Klopp took Liverpool back nearly 10 years by debuting a diamond formation against Ajax. And there are certainly parallels.

Liverpool’s 4-3-3 didn’t work this season. It was the plan, of course, as it has been for the entirety of Jurgen Klopp‘s reign at Anfield. But for whatever reason, it just wasn’t doing it this time.

And so the boss changed. First we saw a 4-4-2 system that brought solid results, including a 7-1 win over Rangers and the 1-0 defeat of Manchester City. But it wasn’t quite ideal, especially after Liverpool lost both of their left-wing options.

Klopp tried something new against Ajax on Wednesday, then. He stuck with a 4-4-2 but shifted the shape into a diamond formation. The 3-0 win suggests it works, certainly, and we think there’s enormous potential.

There are also some parallels with the last time we saw this system at Liverpool.

Klopp tries a diamond formation

The diamond formation at Liverpool conjures up memories of a fantastically exciting side. The front-two of a chaotic Uruguayan striker and a former Chelsea forward found the goals. At the same time, the most exciting teenager in the country popped up with quality moments to show his enormous potential.

And now it’s back! No, it’s not Luis Suárez and Daniel Sturridge but Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah. Raheem Sterling is long gone, but Harvey Elliott promises to be something special.

That 13/14 side under Brendan Rodgers was about as exciting as a football team can be. That doesn’t necessarily mean it was as good as it gets – a massive part of that excitement came from a complete inability to defend. And never knowing whether Suárez would bite someone.

This Liverpool team can defend, though – or at least, can do so in a system that works. The centre-backs and full-backs are enormous upgrades on what Rodgers called on and that alone raises the potential of Klopp’s diamond. Not to mention that he’s got a proper holding midfielder in there.

Wonderfully, one player played in both teams – Jordan Henderson. It was he, too, who opened up Ajax on Wednesday to assist Salah for the opener. It’s quite fitting, if this is a way Klopp wants to play.

We think he absolutely should. The front-two look fantastic together, while Klopp also gets his three-man midfield back. Things should be more solid in the middle, with a no.10 able to sit a little bit deeper than the False 9 would.

And the Reds have no.10s galore. Roberto Firmino was there on Wednesday, but Fabio Carvalho sees it as his preferred position. Both Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones would fancy it, too.

In other words, this is a formation that suits the squad perfectly. The only question was whether Nunez and Salah could play together and we never really saw that as a problem.

Hopefully, then, Klopp sticks with this. Not only does it bring back memories of one of Liverpool’s favourite teams but it really suits the squad. Diamond 2.0 could end up being something very exciting.