'We surprised ourselves,' says Jurgen Klopp after vital Champions League win

Jurgen Klopp admitted Liverpool’s change in formation in their 2-0 Champions League win against Rangers was just as shocking for him.

The Reds boss saw his side claim a much needed victory at Anfield last night thanks to a stunning first-half freekick from Trent Alexander-Arnold and a Mohamed Salah penalty after the break.

Klopp surprised many of the Anfield faithful with his pregame system which deviated from the 4-3-3 formation that has characterised the unprecedented success of his all-conquering Reds in recent years.

Instead opting for a 4-2-3-1, with Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcantara sitting in front of the centre halves, to address the recurring defensive problems which have plagued their disappointing start to the campaign.

The German reckoned the home side’s switch was the bigger shock of the respective line-ups and admitted the unfamiliar system came as a surprise to his men.

“I think Rangers played five [at the back] against Napoli,” he said. “And against Ajax they started and changed but I think our set up was a bigger surprise tonight.

“We surprised ourselves and then situations can happen where it was difficult to defend.

“I think Diojo Jota moved particularly well in between the lines, Darwin [Nunez] kept them away but now we will see what we do when we go to Rangers.

“We respect them a lot and we know it’s a different game, a different occasion and we don’t even think that we are kind of half way through.

“That's why I said ‘two-nil, top result, tough game, fight, go from here.’”

Yesterday’s win takes last season’s Champions League runners-up to second in Group A, three points behind Serie A side Napoli who put six past Ajax in a thumping 6-1 victory in Amsterdam.

The success of the change in shape, which afforded Liverpool only their third clean sheet of this term, will certainly give Klopp much to think about ahead of a difficult weekend match-up with table-topping Arsenal at the Emirates.

And the manager, who cited the threat of Rangers’ left flank as a contributing factor to deploying two holding midfielders, highlighted a recent deficiency his outfit sought to address.

While potentially indicating his intentions for his set-up in North London on Sunday.

“We wanted to defend differently from what we usually do,” added Klopp. “For a few years now if someone was criticising us for our defending they were talking about a high-line.

“But it was rare that people created a lot of chances when we were in a defensive pressing situation - but it did happen more often.

“That’s why we set it up slightly differently and closed different gaps.

“We knew that the left side of Rangers was the creative side with Ryan [Kent] and [Borna] Barišić, - Antonio [Čolak] is a big threat in the finishing situation - so that was the part that had to do with the game.”