Philippe Coutinho strangely drops to one knee to defend a Tottenham free kick

PHILIPPE COUTINHO was the talk of Anfield with his unusual positional sense at a Liverpool free kick.

As the Reds set about laying into visitors Tottenham, the Brazilian decided to kneel behind his team's defensive wall.

He effectively hid himself between Jordan Henderson and Firmino as the Reds' defensive instincts got to work.

Keep up to date with ALL the Liverpool news, gossip, transfers and goals on our club page plus fixtures, results and live match commentary

The technique seemed to work...Spurs didn't score from Christian Erickson's set piece.

Of course, Coutinho's cunning plan led to many a conversation based on 'have you ever seen anyone do that before?'

Well, apparently Marcelo does it for Brazil and Coutino was merely copying his international colleague.

He forced Erikson to try and lob the ball over the wall rather than blast a way through it.

Tottenham struggled to make an impression on the match as Sadio Mane put Liverpool ahead and then added another within two minutes.

The Reds' habit of out-performing top rivals continued as they set about reversing a desperate trend in 2017.

Previously they had chalked up just one win - against Division Two Plymouth Argyle in  the FA Cup...and that after a replay.