Van Dijk is Liverpool’s rock in Klopp’s shift from cavaliers to roundheads

Liverpool’s January always promised to revolve around African attackers. Just not Daniel Udoh, perhaps. And yet, should they keep a fourth consecutive clean sheet against Crystal Palace on Sunday, Shrewsbury’s Nigerian target man will retain his distinction as the only player to score against them while Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané were at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Liverpool could get through what threatened to be the most problematic period of their season unscathed. While Diogo Jota’s double against Arsenal booked their place in the Carabao Cup final and suggested the Portuguese had found a way of compensating for his fellow forwards’ absence, Jürgen Klopp argues that Salah and Mané have been replaced in part by stoppers, not scorers.

Udoh struck for Shrewsbury in the FA Cup but Liverpool allowed Arsenal and Brentford four shots on target in 270 minutes of football. Their defence has provided sturdy foundations that have assumed still greater significance.

“It’s the only way you can do it,” Klopp says. “When you lose key players for injuries or tournaments or whatever, then the solution is not that you will be flying in the next game. It’s not that you say: ‘OK, now we will score five or six and create chances like hell.’”

Liverpool’s reputation as adventurers precedes them, burnished by winning 7-0 on their last trip to Selhurst Park. Klopp believes his side are more cautious than kamikaze. “It was 100% clear that we need to be rock solid,” he says. “Maybe you don’t see it all the time but we are defending first.

“We have to be organised: that’s the basis for everything we do. And in this moment, I can see outstanding commitment to our defending. Everybody is 100% involved in everything because they understand it’s