Jurgen Klopp has revealed how his players conjured up at half-time the set-piece that helped Liverpool move back to the Premier League summit.
The Reds are once again two points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table after a 2-0 win at relegation-threatened Cardiff City on Sunday.
After a tense first half, it took a well-worked set-piece to open the scoring in 57 minutes when Gini Wijnaldum met a low Trent Alexander-Arnold corner from the right with a fierce finish.
And Klopp has saluted the presence of mind of his players to come up with the game's breakthrough moment.
“We used the set-pieces in a fantastic way,” he said. “The boys were so smart. They used the experience of the first half for that corner in the second half.
“It wasn't from the training ground, it was actually from the dressing room at half-time when the boys decided to do that. I loved that.
“We put a lot of emphasis on set-pieces. At half-time, we weren't bad in the first half. We knew Cardiff is outstandingly strong in offensive set-pieces, but from time to time they have some problems defensively
“Some of the boys found that out, and if you make all those runs on the pitch no camera angle is as good as your own view.
“They decided to play that flat ball and Gini made the run. With all the blocks and their man-marking, if you have three players man-marked and bring a fourth and fifth one they they are free.
“Obviously Gini was free at that moment, but you still have to hit the ball like he did. It was a brilliant goal. I loved it.”
Asked if he was pleased to see his players take the initiative, Klopp added: “It doesn't happen too often, that's why I like it.
“But players talk to each other and you see that and we have two or three routines around set-pieces and it's about you try all of them and you figure out what causes them most problems and you try that one again.
“If you're not happy with all the things on that day, you have to try something different. It's difficult on the pitch to decide because you need too many players involved and you'd have to take a timeout and say 'we do things like this'.
“But at half-time it's possible and they did it.”
Liverpool have now scored 20 goals from set-pieces this season, the most in the Premier League.
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“We had to improve in that area,” added Klopp. “We didn't really score a lot of goals in the past like this.
“A big, big compliment to all the boys involved in this, the analysts, Peter Krawietz put a lot of work into that.
“But the boys have to do it. If it's successful, then you like it.”
