The beauty of Liverpool now having five elite forwards is the number of possibilities it opens for Jurgen Klopp. When the Reds’ front three was set in stone as Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, it was well known in which position each would play.
Yet having five options for a trio of forward berths means there are 10 possible combinations of three players Klopp could use to fill them, and that’s before you get to switching them between right, central or left. It would be a surprise to see Firmino starting in a wide position, but otherwise almost anything is on the table.
We have seen this since early February with Mane. Since returning from his successful Africa Cup of Nations campaign, the Senegalese international has often begun matches in the centre of the attack. Mane did so nine times across his first five seasons with the Reds but has already done so on eight occasions in 2021/22.
