Ian Rush believes the fluid nature of Liverpool's frontline is enough to give opposition defenders nightmares.

Jürgen Klopp has regularly deployed versatile forward Roberto Firmino as a so-called 'false nine' this season, leaving the Reds lining up without a traditional centre-forward.

But the Brazilian's tendency to drop into deeper positions has left space for the likes of Adam Lallana, Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mane to fill - which they have done to devastating effect thus far.

Rush has been impressed by the 'football brain' shown by LFC's attacking players in this setup, and has a degree of sympathy for those tasked with keeping them quiet.

"If you're the opposition trying to suss out Liverpool, I think it's difficult," he told Liverpoolfc.com.

"[They've got] a football brain; Firmino, Coutinho, Sturridge – when someone's in their position, they've got to look for the space in another position.

"I think that's what Liverpool are doing now. You can't say, 'He's the main striker'.

"They've got immense talent there and they seem to be gelling now because they're working as a team.

"If you're the opposition, it must be very, very difficult to judge who you're up against."

LFCTV GO: Rush praises fluid Reds attack

Liverpool are averaging 2.6 goals per game in all competitions this term, with 12 different players having got themselves on the scoresheet.

Rush says the goals were often shared out in the successful sides he was part of, and the Welshman is pleased to see the current crop doing the same.

"If you're winning games but it's only the strikers who are scoring goals, then the opposition know what to do," he added.

"When I played, we had Phil Neal getting 10 goals a season, Alan Kennedy was getting five goals a season, Mark Lawrenson would get five goals.

"When you've got defenders doing that, it all comes together."

The Reds' early momentum was halted in the second game of the season as they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Burnley at Turf Moor despite having 80 per cent of the possession.

But the club's all-time record goalscorer believes lessons were quickly learned from that frustrating afternoon, as evidenced by the results in a number of other potentially tricky encounters since.

"I'm hoping Burnley was a blessing in disguise. We know what we've got to do, we've got to be more clinical," he added.

"We beat Swansea in a game that we previously would have drawn or lost; West Brom we would also maybe have drawn or lost as well.

"We're winning now and we're up there. I think that breeds confidence and I don't think many teams at the moment will want to play against Liverpool."