Remember when emergency centre-back Steven Caulker played up front for Liverpool?

Do you remember when Steven Caulker played up front for Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp? We certainly do.

Before Jurgen Klopp whipped Liverpool into shape, he encountered some struggles early on. He took on a squad that needed a massive overhaul and it’s worth noting what personnel he had at his disposal in 2016, when he encountered a defensive crisis.

The emergency solution was to sign QPR centre-back Caulker, who you would think was brought in to fill in defensively right? Wrong. Klopp did utilise him, but only as a striker across his three appearances, which now stands as a bizarre moment in the early tenure of the German manager.

Whilst goalkeeper David James at Manchester City probably remains the strangest option for an emergency striker in Premier League history, Caulker runs him pretty close. We had Klopp, a top European manager, resorting to relying on the six foot three defender in the dying embers of games to salvage a point.

Just 24 hours after signing in the January window, that’s exactly what he did. His intervention during his five minute cameo against Arsenal saw him disrupt their defence, allowing Joe Allen to equalise late on to make it 3-3 in a pulsating end to an entertaining affair.

What makes this story even better is the fact that Caulker himself thought it was a joke: “I was shocked, I thought the gaffer was joking when he said it (go up front). With only four or five minutes to go we had to go for it and it paid off. It was an exciting five or six minutes. I was delighted to get on the pitch and help rescue a point. It has been a bit of a roller-coaster but the adrenaline dragged me through.”

After that impact off the bench, Klopp used him in the next two games in the same vein, when he was thrown on even later against Manchester United.

Signed as emergency cover for their centre-backs at the time, he responded on Twitter to some very non-serious calls for him to return in a similar role during the 2020/21 season, which saw Liverpool hit with a devastating run of injuries. The former QPR defender replied on social media by saying: "I’m only coming back if I’m playing up front!"

Sadly, he only made three Premier League appearances due to the fact he had to check himself into rehab following a string of drunk and disorderly offences, which saw his time at Anfield come to an end.

After recovering he sought a loan at Southampton before returning to QPR. He then enjoyed spells at Dundee, Alanyaspor, Fenerbache, Gaziantep, Fatih Karagumruk before finding a home at Wigan Athletic in the January window.

He changed nationalities to play for Sierra Lione last year, featuring at the African Cup of Nations after making his debut for England in 2012, in which he scored.

But no matter where he goes, he’ll always remain as one of the strangest tactical moves made by a Liverpool manager.