3 Liverpool players who have successfully changed their massive transformation under Jurgen Klopp

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Liverpool have undergone a massive transformation under Jurgen Klopp but before this summer, he didn’t invest heavily in the squad. In fact, Klopp took Liverpool to two cup finals in his debut season without altering the squad he had at his disposal.

Klopp utilised many of the players he inherited in ways his predecessors didn’t think of. Even some of the players he signed were shifted to a different position or role than they were used to at their previous clubs. Mohamed Salah, for example, predominantly played as a right winger before joining Liverpool and on paper, he played in the same position for the Reds. However, Klopp has created a system in which Salah is often the furthest player up the pitch.

3 Jordan Henderson

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Back with a bang 💥 #YNWA

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Ahead of the 2016/17 season, Jurgen Klopp shifted Liverpool’s formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3. However, during the preseason, the lineup he used was baffling as the team had three players who were attacking midfielders and one who played as a box to box midfielder.

Later on, it became evident that Klopp changed the position of the players and Jordan Henderson operated as the #6 with Adam Lallana and Gini Wijnaldum playing on either side of him. This was the same midfield he used in the first league game of the 2016/17 season.

Klopp had Lucas Leiva and Emre Can in the squad and both players were capable of playing as a #6 but he preferred to use the Liverpool skipper because of his ability to keep the ball ticking and in possession.

2 James Milner

James Milner’s middle name is versatility but he took that to a whole new level under Jurgen Klopp.

Very few players from the Brendan Rodgers era have been able to survive the mass exodus under Klopp but Milner has not only avoided it, he has forced his way into the starting XI time and time again.

Milner left Manchester City in 2015 to join Liverpool because he wanted to play in his preferred central midfield role. He played in that role a few times under Brendan Rodgers but after Klopp took over, Milner had to play down the right-wing because of lack of options.

In 2016/17, Milner was a regular in the Liverpool starting XI. In fact, he played 36 out of the 38 league games. However, he didn’t play any of those games as a central midfielder or as a winger, he played the entire season as a left-back!
Throughout the season, Klopp used the Englishman as a right-footed left-back ahead of the left-footed Alberto Moreno.

1 Roberto Firmino

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Be happy😁

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The transformation of Roberto Firmino has to be one of Jurgen Klopp’s best moves yet as the Liverpool manager.

The Brazilian played as an attacking midfielder for Hoffenheim but because of a severe imbalance in the Liverpool squad when Klopp took over and also a lack of quality strikers, Klopp used him as a centre-forward occasionally in 2015/16.

The 2017/18 season saw the best of Firmino as a striker with him scoring 27 goals and assisting 15 more in 54 games. However, it’s not just his goals that makes Firmino the perfect centre-forward for Klopp’s system.

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