'We never played with No 9 before': Klopp explains why Salah 'suffers' this season

"Yeah of course. It was a well drilled machine the front three. Everything was clear what we were doing. It’s not been helpful. Everyone suffers from that," Jurgen Klopp said at a press conference when asked whether Mo Salah has 'suffered' from Liverpool changing formations and personnel this season.

"Offensive play involves a lot of work and a lot of information. How to move…. you create a feeling so you know where your team-mate is, and where you can pass the ball without looking.

"It’s not cool. We cannot expect just to be back to our best and win 5-0 and go to the next game. We have to work hard, nobody wants to hear it, but we have to do it. And then in two or three weeks we’ll have other options and can mix it up.

"Now we have with Cody, a really important asset, a connector, he can play the wing but he can play in the centre as well. When Darwin is playing there he is obviously more high up, going in behind, so we have all different things to use.

"We never played with a No 9 before. Even when Sadio was there he was dropping (deeper) in moments, but that is not Darwin’s game. He wants other balls and he’s really a handful there. If they would all be in we could build something but we haven’t been able to do that yet.

"We start a new chapter and talk about Mo Salah and it is maybe the start of a discussion or the end of a discussion, I have no idea. But if you’re in Mo’s boots and have scored hundreds of goals in the past few years and then you don’t score, the first thing you think about is not scoring. But that is not our problem at the moment.

"We started the season with Harvey in the half position in midfield and with Hendo it’s different but not too different and now it is Naby at the moment. Things are different all the time. 

"Usually you have a real basis you build on and that is what we don’t have really. But we are 100 per cent ready to work through that."

The 30-year-old has scored 17 goals and provided six assists in 29 appearances so far this season. This is a pretty good goal return but there has been plenty of games in which Mo was practically invisible, such as against Brighton in a 3-0 defeat.