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Liverpool continued their stunning start to the season by beating Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 on Tuesday night.

The result handed Leverkusen just their second loss since the start of the 2023/24 campaign and made it an unhappy return to Merseyside for Xabi Alonso.

Given how difficult Alonso has made his team to beat, the victory and the nature of it make it one of Liverpool’s best results of the season so far.

Arne Slot obviously deserves an enormous amount of credit for that.

Slot has now overtaken Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti as being the Premier League manager with the best ever start at a new club.

Inform the Liverpool head coach of this fact, though, and he’ll likely point to the quality of player former manager Jurgen Klopp left him with.

But while it’s fair to highlight the firepower within the Liverpool squad, it’s also clear that Slot is putting together different plans for one or two notable players.

Photo by Rico Brouwer/Soccrates/Getty Images

One player who made a big impact during Tuesday’s win over Leverkusen was Cody Gakpo.

Gakpo is enjoying an ‘unbelievable’ run of form having scored four goals in his last three appearances for Liverpool.

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It is a pleasing record for a player who has not always covered himself in glory since arriving in January 2023.

What was perhaps even more notable than Gakpo’s goal against Leverkusen, though, was the fact that Slot chose to play him from the left, even in the absence of a recognised starting central striker.

READ MORE: Cody Gakpo explains what ‘won Liverpool the game’ against Bayer Leverkusen

Klopp often used Gakpo through the middle of the attack in an attempt to utilise his big frame and his ability in tight spaces.

But while the Dutchman did have good performances from that position, he clearly looks more at home when out on the wing.

Slot seems to agree.

With Diogo Jota still injured and Darwin Nunez on the bench, the 46-year-old chose to play Luis Diaz through the middle instead of the more obvious solution in Gakpo.

It worked, with Diaz plundering a hat-trick and his teammate scoring as well.

Klopp admitted that he had possibly made a mistake with Gakpo by failing to nail down a position for the 25-year-old during their 18 months working together.

That is not all on Klopp, of course.

It’s also true that to cement himself in his favoured spot, Gakpo should have done better when given the chance to.

Now given clarity over his role for every game, however, the former PSV Eindhoven captain is starting to really thrive.

Diaz spoke out about how he enjoyed playing centrally and after the Colombian rewarded Slot’s decision with three well-taken goals, it’s easy to see this tactic being used again.

You can understand the reasons for Klopp wanting to use Gakpo centrally, but having found different solutions, it looks like Slot has well and truly put that idea in the bin.