Jurgen Klopp has revealed the dressing-room intervention from “proper leader” James Milner that helped Liverpool maintain their unbeaten league record.

The Reds matched their best-ever start to at Premier League season by securing a hard-earned 1-1 draw at Arsenal on Saturday evening.

Liverpool, though, were outplayed for periods in the first half as the midfield triumvirate of Milner, Fabinho and Gini Wijnaldum struggled to cope.

And Klopp has told how Milner, skipper in the continued absence of Jordan Henderson, wasted no time during the interval letting his team-mates know where the Reds were going wrong.

“When you have a compact formation you give the opposition the opportunity to pass into a certain place and then you press,” said the Liverpool boss. “It's not that complicated.

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“But Arsenal had two or three options to pass the ball, and that makes life pretty uncomfortable for the three midfielders. We were too high on the wings.

“We've done it outstandingly well in the past but we didn't do that in the first half.

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“Millie was the one who saw it for us. He was not happy about it, he was animated.

“That's how it is in the dressing room. A lot of men with testosterone. Usually the only one talking is me, but sometimes before I start talking the boys have a few words.

“It's good that we could change it at half-time. And he was the right person to score the goal.”

(Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)

A shift in formation led to an improved second-half showing in midfield, although Milner's opener on 61 minutes was equalised eight minutes from time by Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette.

Milner's goal was his first from open play in the Premier League since scoring against former club Manchester City in March 2016.

And Klopp added: “Of course he is a leader. He is a proper leader.

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“The problem wasn't the three (midfielders) that played. We couldn't change, we had no defensive midfielder on the bench which meant it was really difficult.

“Hendo wasn't there. Then there we had to think sizewise at set-pieces, to make sure that was organised. It was not too cool.

“The best way to go into a game is to do it right from the first moment and we can build on that, and we didn't do that.

“It meant it was always like 'what the heck is here?'. Offensively it was very good, we played football, got in behind the lines, had chances, scored a goal, but defensively it was not as good.”

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Klopp added: “I like the idea that we write a story about James Milner after the game. Maybe tomorrow somebody will write that he has to play for England again! That's a nice idea.

“Millie is like wine – a very good red one. Is Leeds famous for wine?!?”