Five things learned as Liverpool experiment sees off Rangers challenge

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Liverpool swiftly put the disappointing draw with Brighton behind them with a confident 2-0 victory over Rangers. Trent Alexander-Arnold answered some of his critics with a fine free-kick to set things off before Mohamed Salah scored from the spot to round off a comfortable victory for the Reds. Express Sport looks at five things we learned from Liverpool’s win.

Trent Alexander-Arnold reminder

Liverpool’s right-back has almost been the scapegoat for their poor start to the new season with plenty of focus on some questionable defensive performances. While it’s clear the 23-year-old still has room to grow at the back, there’s no denying his attacking talents.

Assists have been Alexander-Arnold’s forte, but his brilliant free-kick to open the scoring was his third goal of the season in 11 games. It’s the first time since the 2019/20 season he has scored more than twice and his best ever start to a campaign in front of goal.

Worrying trend stopped

Much has been said about Liverpool’s dire form, but arguably the most worrying trend has been how slow they’ve been to start games. The weekend’s draw against Brighton was the sixth game this season they have conceded first, forcing Klopp’s side to play catch up once again.

But Liverpool stepped on the gas from the outset and found the opening goal inside the first 10 minutes to put them in full control. That clearly lifted any nerves in the Anfield crowd, who would have been fearful of seeing their side go behind first once again.

Reinventing themselves

Before the international break, Klopp admitted his side were in need of “reinventing themselves”. Very little appear to have changed in the draw with Brighton, but Klopp rehauled his side’s formation for the game against Rangers.

With such an array of attacking talent, Klopp went with the quartet of Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota all from the start.

And all four forwards were given a free licence to roam, causing confusion in the Rangers defence as they changed positions regularly. The final pass was lacking at times once again, but the basis was there for Liverpool and could feasibly be an option for Klopp further down the line.

Darwin Nunez goals coming

It’s been a stop-start to his career at Anfield, but there’s no question that Darwin Nunez is a talent who will start banging in goals for Jurgen Klopp’s side. His sending off against Crystal Palace cost him valuable minutes and Nunez has been playing catch up since.

But the Uruguay international was arguably Liverpool’s biggest attacking threat while he was on the pitch with only a number of fines saves from Allan McGregor denying him his first Champions League goal for Liverpool. Nunez now needs a run in the side to find that elusive goal and that could then open the floodgates for the summer signing.

Robertson dilemma

It’s exactly the kind of headache Jurgen Klopp will want to have but, when Andy Robertson is back fit and available, he may struggle to displace Kostas Tsimikas straight away. Rangers were limited to a few attacks, but there was hardly any joy for the visitors down Tsimikas’ flank.

And the Greece international pulled off a remarkable clearance off the line to prevent Rangers grabbing a consolation goal late on. It’s not yet clear when Robertson will be back and available, but Klopp will be happy having Tsimikas more than capable to step in.

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