sport news Should Liverpool stick with 4-3-3 against Tottenham after Napoli win? trends now
Liverpool's season really is proving a head-scratcher.
Capable of winning a battle of wits with title-chasing Manchester City one week then losing risibly to relegation fodder Nottingham Forest the next and Leeds the week after that.
Looking like a group of players only just acquainted in capitulating 4-1 away to Napoli but beating the same opposition with a fair amount of comfort at Anfield.
Liverpool put in one of their best performances of an inconsistent season as they beat Napoli
Jurgen Klopp went back to the tried and trusted 4-3-3 formation and gained a positive result
Taking 15 points from six matches in their Champions League group to cruise into the knockout rounds, yet amassing only 16 points from their first dozen Premier League games to sit a lowly ninth.
Jurgen Klopp's tinkering with formations has only added a further layer of intrigue.
Liverpool's manager has spoken of the need for 'reinvention', yet on Tuesday night the tried and trusted delivered one of their best results of the season.
We have seen experimentation with a 4-2-3-1, a 4-4-2, a 4-2-4 and a midfield diamond in recent weeks - with decidedly mixed outcomes - but it was the familiar 4-3-3 that did for Napoli at Anfield.
Sure, it took late goals by Mohamed Salah and substitute Darwin Nunez, and it wasn't the hefty win Liverpool needed to usurp Napoli at the top of their group.
But they were easily the superior team and the system afforded them a degree of control that has been missing at other points in the season.
Mohamed Salah (right) opened the scoring before substitute Darwin Nunez sealed the win
Ibrahima Konate (left) and Virgil van Dijk (right) looked solid playing together in defence
So the big question, as thoughts turn to a visit to the equally capricious Tottenham on Sunday, is whether Klopp's tinkering is now over and the return to 4-3-3 is a permanent move like nothing happened.
As they attempt to claw back points on early pace-setters Arsenal and City, 4-3-3 offers the comfort blanket of familiarity for players who, in most cases, have been below their peak so far in 2022/23.
With the Champions League now put to bed until February, making up ground in the league either side of the World Cup can be Klopp's priority.
On the other hand, exposure to different ways of playing can't do Liverpool's players any harm.
Klopp, who extended his Anfield contract until 2026 back in April, must fret that Liverpool are becoming a bit stale and a bit too predictable.
It's been a season of inconsistency for Liverpool, who lost to Nottingham Forest late last month
That shocking result came a week after Mohamed Salah scored the winner against Man City
