Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says his team is finally close to performing the way they did last season.
The Reds' 4-1 win against Swansea City on Monday night was their fourth consecutive non-defeat scoreline in all competitions as they moved to just five points from the top four in the Premier League.
"In the last two to three weeks the performance level has been much closer to what we were over the course of the last 18 months," Rodgers said.
"There's been a lot of work and hours going into the tactical idea that was going to allow us to get back to that. It wasn't traditional because we're having to play a young guy who is a winger as that striker, but the shape of the team causes other teams problems.
"When you have the players that want to go and press the ball, work as hard as they did tonight, and then have got the quality to back that up, you can be a really hard team to play against. That's how it's been for us.
"Apart from a ridiculous spell of seven or eight minutes when we scored the second goal, when we gave the ball away cheaply, conceded and then tried our best to give them another goal, it was a really dominant performance I felt.
"The structure of the team was very good in terms of how the players worked it. We asked the back three to open up the game when we had the ball and create the overload.
"The two guys on the side, the full-backs, allow you to drop into a shape that's solid when you haven't got the ball but when you have it they have the freedom to go really high and push on.
"We've got a box in midfield that gives you four players in there to dominate. Then you've got a central striker who can run, spin up the sides and get in between people. I thought how the team worked was very good.
"Tonight we came out and put that intensity and work-rate into the game and we got our reward for that. Creativity was very much there tonight but a solid base behind it as well - that is key for us if we are going to succeed."
