Rodgers hails evolution of Liverpool's 3-4-3 formation (but admits Sterling hiccup)

BRENDAN RODGERS has revealed how he implemented Liverpool's new 3-4-3 formation in mid-season.

Brendan RodgersGETTY

Brendan Rodgers had to find a role for Raheem Sterling

Rodgers says that his first experiment with the new tactics against Newcastle in November went largely unnoticed.

But the 1-0 loss gave him more information in which to tweak the system and help Liverpool rediscover their best form in recent weeks.

He told talkSPORT: "I'd looked at it at the beginning of the season because I felt that I needed to change something when we were in that run where it wasn't going so well.

"We played it away at Newcastle - believe it or not - and nobody really picked up on it and I played it in the cup competitions.

"Because there was very little training time, because of the Champions League games where we were playing and recovering and playing again, I couldn't work on it on the training field.

Brendan Rodgers hails Liverpool s big win

I was trying to find out about it was in games.

Brendan Rodgers

"We would do some elements of the system but the way I was trying to find out about it was in games.

"So we played away at Newcastle - we played quite well - but we lost the game 1-0 so that gave us something to think about.

"In that game I played Raheem Sterling in one of the wide roles and it didn't suit Raheem so I've got to then go away and think how do I put him into the system and make it work for him.

"But it's all come together quite well because we've been able to work on it more and the players carry it out well and they believe in it."

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