Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp believes striker Roberto Firmino is still crucial to his team.

Firmino is no longer the undisputed starter at center forward for Klopp, who can also use Diogo Jota in that role to great effect.

Following Firmino's outstanding hat trick in the Premier League against Watford on Saturday in a 5-0 win, Klopp spoke about his Brazilian attacker in glowing terms.

Klopp said to reporters: "Bobby was massive for our development as a team, absolutely. He is obviously a key player, the connector of all the different pieces on the pitch very often.

"He didn't have a proper pre-season, then getting injured – that's now not too helpful obviously. But the three goals from the weekend, for sure, will help him a lot.

"I think I was never shy of putting praise on Bobby Firmino and his importance, so maybe if you forgot that then go back and I recall something where I said a lot of nice things about Bobby because he deserved it.

"He's our false nine and on top of that a very, very important player."