For the visit of Brentford in the first home game of the new season, it was very much a case of the calm after the joyous storm when it came to the Dr Who-like managerial regeneration of Jurgen Klopp into Arne Slot.
A 2-0 win represented a degree of business as usual for Liverpool, after what had magically felt like almost nine years of listening to Sabotage by the Beastie Boys on a constant loop.
While excellently effective in collecting three more points to add to those obtained at Portman Road eight days earlier, Slot’s introductory Premier League soundtrack on home soil was a little more acoustic and intimate compared to what we grew accustomed to under Klopp – it was almost sedate, to be honest.
Goals from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah decided the outcome in this one against Thomas Frank’s mostly constricted yet highly organised team, armed as they were with a couple of recent Liverpool departees among their list of substitutes.
In terms of goalscoring style, you could have easily blinked your attention toward the touchline fully expecting to see Klopp chest-bumping away with his coaching staff, so imbued these goals were with our former manager’s DNA.
Yet, those two goals aside, there was plenty to see that was clearly stamped with what we will become more and more familiar with from Slot’s brand of Liverpool, be it the increased nature of one-touch football and a decrease in what was sometimes, under Klopp, an over-elaboration in playing the ball out from the back.
While the latter concept was still there on Sunday, it was notable that it came with less risk, with Alisson clipping the ball into acres of space in our defensive midfield areas far more than we’re used to seeing.
Slot’s Liverpool will rapidly evolve and targeted flashes of pragmatism could be an element we will need to get used to.
In many respects, however, this is something that can be an early ace up his sleeve as opposing teams set up against us expecting a continuation of the core Klopp philosophies.
Brentford were certainly drawn in at times, only to be bemused by our variation of approach to launching forays forward.
It was refreshing to see and it was a well-drilled mantra, with the ball rarely being lost carelessly despite the alterations.
We were punching at around 92 percent in pass completion, our biggest figure in this respect in a league game in over two decades. We were impressive and understated in equal measure on Sunday.
Undeniably, however, the Klopp-less Liverpool is going to take some adjusting to on the terraces too.
Prior to the match, on Flagpole Corner, the conversation of season-long expectations were micromanaged. A top-four finish and a long run in the Champions League seemed to be the consensus of most who opined.
Myself, I’ve no set vision of what is to come. I will just roll along with this season on a voyage of Slot-related discovery.
I never once watched his Feyenoord play, although you have to be impressed with anyone who can lead the Rotterdam outfit to the Eredivisie title, something that they have achieved only twice since the start of the 21st century.
A huge historical entity when it comes to Dutch football, in the late 1990s Feyenoord had as many Eredivisie titles to their name as PSV Eindhoven did, and as a club they will always maintain the notoriety of being the first from their nation to win the European Cup.
Thus, Slot is well-versed in leading a club whose heyday is mostly entrenched in the past. He should feel right at home once his feet are comfortably under his new desk.
As things stand for Slot, however, it has to feel like he’s on babysitting duties to a degree with no summer playing additions and no compelling prospect to suggest that the situation will change. It’s a landscape that has driven much of the fanbase to distraction and angst.
This week will set much of the mood music to come as we point ourselves toward the autumn and winter months, with our first game post-transfer window closure being a trip down the East Lancs Road to Old Trafford, the venue where the tail end of last season began to unravel.
Football supporters thrive upon positivity, and a lack of new players, an adverse result at the home of bitter rivals, and a continued lack of contract announcements can swiftly create a cloud that will take some shaking just as the first international break of the season lumbers into view.
Conversely, beating Man United in their backyard, the arrival of a new defensive midfield face, and the signing of a contract or two would provide a wave of good vibes that extends the summer for another month or so as we reach for Beach Boys tunes and fend off the instinct of pulling from the wardrobe the big coat for a few weeks more.
Whichever way the cards fall this week, across the bigger picture unavoidable change is in progress, although that’s not to say it need be a bad thing nor something we should feel uneasy about. It will just take a bit of getting used to.
?? Applause and a wave from Arne Slot for Liverpool supporters post-match. pic.twitter.com/TuETz7eBpa
— This Is Anfield (@thisisanfield) August 25, 2024
Anfield offered a peculiar near non-atmosphere on Sunday as with the Klopp songbook now residing on the bookshelf, it was almost as if nobody was quite sure what we should be singing, and it was the voices of the travelling Brentford supporters that could be heard more often than not.
Attempts to get an Arne Slot chant going were audible, but they didn’t take flight. It was the new boss’ first day in the Anfield office, and it felt a little bit like we were all still trying to suss him out, whether he’s sound or not.
I’m sure he will be sound.
