Jurgen Klopp was delighted to be able to spring a surprise on Brighton and Hove Albion with an unorthodox Liverpool line-up, even if his players were similarly in the dark about the new system until Friday.
With Joel Matip ruled out, Klopp fielded midfielders Emre Can and Georginio Wijnaldum in a three-man defence - and it worked to good effect as Liverpool romped to a 5-1 triumph at Brighton.
The front three of Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Philippe Coutinho were all on song and their manager believes the late call on a change of formation played a big role.
"We had no idea we were going to have to line up like this until [Friday's] meeting and I'm pleased for the boys," Klopp told Sky Sports. "They were able to adapt.
"Our line-up surprised everybody. It's a good moment that we can do things like this. They adapted and did the job. We need to adapt with plenty of different systems - that's how it should be."
Klopp: "We are a really good football team, we know that, but we need to carry on. It's good but it's important that it's good because we need the points." December 2, 2017
Despite the convincing margin of victory, Liverpool endured a few nervy moments as Glenn Murray made the scoreline 3-1 shortly after Firmino's second goal.
And Klopp conceded that this win was not as comfortable as the result suggests.
Asked whether he had enjoyed the victory, the Reds boss replied: "Not really, not all the time."
