How Jurgen Klopp fixed Liverpool's biggest creative problem against Fulham - with 'chaos' factor key

Liverpool are missing two of their best players in Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold which means that their two most creative players are not available.

Salah is in Africa, captaining Egypt as he hopes to lead them to glory in the Africa Cup of Nations. While Alexander-Arnold is sidelined at least until the start of February and with neither available, Jurgen Klopp will have to find a new way for his side to be creative on the ball.

In terms of Alexander-Arnold, since the start of last season, he has been directly involved in more goals (16) than any other defender, while only Bruno Fernandes (40) has created more big chances than TAA (37) - he is a huge creative outlet for Liverpool and will be a big miss. Plus, Salah has been responsible for 51% of their total goals in the league, so both are naturally huge losses. Neither were available against Fulham, but Klopp found a way to combat it, so how did he do it?

His original plan with Harvey Elliott on the right-wing in Salah's position didn't work. Klopp needs pace and athleticism on the wings and he has always required that in his teams. He fixed this by bringing off the young midfielder and introducing Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo, while Luis Diaz was moved over to the right-wing. They then enjoyed a huge upturn overall, creating an xG of 1.46 compared to the 0.27 in the first half as well as maintaining high levels of possession and managed 14 shots, with six on target - it worked.

Going forward, Diaz should be the starter on the right, but Nunez's impact off the bench (on the left-wing) proved that he can be the 'chaos' factor that helps ignite their creativity. While he has just two goals in 16 games which is certainly a frustrating statistic for a £64m striker, he now leads Liverpool's assist charts with 10 in all competitions, with two coming in the win over Fulham. What he showed in just under 40 minutes was that he can be the catalyst to fill that gap.

He managed the most touches in the opposition box (12) most chances created (2) most take-ons completed (3) most shots on target (3) and most shots in total (4) which proves his overall impact. When he's backed by a strong midfield and the likes of Gakpo and Diaz, he can thrive, while the rest can work around him as we saw with Gakpo and Jones both finish brilliantly. His goals will also surely come soon as well, Klopp claimed 'You cannot get more unlucky' and it seems that there will be a time when the goals will come. But, for now, he has found his role as the man who can make things happen and that should see Liverpool through this tricky period without their two best creative outlets.