PREMIER LEAGUE Jurgen has brave new game-plan

ANFIELD FOR Watford, the mission was simple – keep Mo Salah quiet, keep Liverpool quiet. Or so they thought.

The visitors came with a tactic well rehearsed in recent weeks by sides as mighty as even Bayern Munich and Manchester United – double up on the Reds forward, and double down on space around him.

If Jurgen Klopp’s side have had a weakness of late, it is that they have simply not been able to find a way to unleash their talisman.

Against the Hornets though, they came up with a sting of a different sort – encourage the visiting defence to use two, three, even four to suppress him, and then switch swiftly to feed others.

It worked spectacularly, in part because Salah (left) was beating two or three before fencing the smuggled goods off, and in part because of Sadio Mane’s genius.. and that backheel.

Yet Klopp must take massive credit for a game-plan that clearly bamboozled Watford. Against United on Sunday when chief space-maker Roberto Firmino went off injured he brought on Daniel Sturridge.

That cramped the space, rather than created it. Here though, the Reds boss was brave, choosing Divock Origi ahead of Sturridge, and crucially – because it is never easy to drop your skipper – James Milner ahead of Jordan Henderson.

Origi powered down the left, relishing the extra territory Salah’s meanderings delivered, and Milner, using his experience of operating all along that left flank, filled in brilliantly behind and around him.

These are the calls which win not only matches, but hearts and minds... except for Henderson’s of course. Klopp was as bold and decisive here as he was timid at Old Trafford, and for that he deserves acclaim and applause.