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Jurgen Klopp believes the “unbelievably valuable” Roberto Firmino is helping knit together Liverpool's new formation.

Firmino has been operating in a deeper role behind main striker Mohamed Salah with the Reds now regularly switching to a 4-2-3-1 approach in an effort to capitalise on the impressive form of Xherdan Shaqiri.

While the Swiss shone during the first half of Saturday's 3-0 win at Watford, it was Firmino who made the most telling contribution after the break with a major part in Salah's opener before winning the free-kick for Trent Alexander-Arnold to score the second and then adding the third himself, his fifth goal of the season.

Firmino spent the majority of last season as the centre forward flanked by Salah and Sadio Mane, and ended with a career-best 27 goals.

And while accepting exertions in the summer's World Cup contributed to a slow start to this campaign for the Brazilian, Klopp is in no doubt over the player's importance.

“He never will come to me because people are saying something is missing and ask 'boss, can I play in my old position again?',” said the Liverpool manager.

“He is doing the job. That makes him so unbelievably valuable for us. I'm really happy with him.

“Yes, we had a long season last season and he had a World Cup, then he had bits here and there. But it's not about position. It's about what you have to do in the right moments.

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“We need to find a system where we can bring our quality on the pitch and against Watford it worked out.”

Klopp used an anecdote from Liverpool's home game against Fulham before the international break to illustrate Firmino's worth.

“It all depends what you want to see, what you expect and what you compare it with,” he said.

“In the last home game against Fulham, I had 20 German coaches in the stadium. Most of them were friends of mine, and I know them all.

(Image: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

“They watched the game. I'm not sure what the critics were saying about Bobby Firmino after the game, but when I saw the coaches later and we had drinks together, they were like 'Bobby Firmino... what a player!'.

“It's because of the small things he is doing, he is working hard, he is here, he is there, he has five goals now and he opens 5,000 gaps for everybody. It's about how you see it.”

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Klopp, meanwhile, again praised Liverpool's prowess with the dead ball, best illustrated with Alexander-Arnold's brilliantly-struck free-kick.

“Think about the two big chances we had in the first half from set-pieces,” said the Reds boss.

“It was a brilliant cross from Shaq for Mo, a free header, Foster saved it, the other was free-kick when Gini got to the ball.

“Shaq has a fantastic free-kick, Trent I think his last one was against Hoffenheim, so it's a long while ago. It was a good moment.”