Tony Evans: Liverpool Are Back on Top, And This Time, They Know How to Stay There
A blistering start, scars from the City era, and why Slot’s Reds aren’t fooled by early success
You don’t win anything in September. Yet it’s hard not to get carried away by Liverpool’s superb start to the season.
Five wins in the Premier League and two cup victories have been achieved without Arne Slot’s team reaching anywhere near their potential. It feels like there’s much, much more to come.
The next two league games are tricky away fixtures: Crystal Palace up first and then Chelsea. In between is a tiring trip to Turkey to face Galatasaray in the Champions League.
It’s tempting to think that if Liverpool go into the October international break with maximum points in the league, retaining the title will be a breeze. Tempting but dangerous.
Beware the Early Leaders
One of the finest seasons in Anfield’s history occurred 40 years ago. The 1985-86 campaign ended in glory with Kenny Dalglish’s team edging out Everton to top the table and beating the Blues at Wembley in the FA Cup final to complete the Double. It was the most memorable of seasons.
What is less remembered is that after 10 games, Manchester United had a 100% record and were nine points clear of Liverpool. United went into November unbeaten. The Daily Mirror famously ran the headline Give It To Them Now on the morning of their first defeat away to Sheffield Wednesday. United finished fourth in May. “That was the second time we finished fourth in a two-horse race,” Ron Atkinson, the Scouser managing United at the time, told me. “We didn’t think we were going to walk it but...” He let that one hang.
Football has a way of making fools of the complacent and Big Ron’s tone recognised that.
There is no complacency in Slot’s team. It helps that Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson and Mo Salah are not only important members of the leadership group but veterans of those titanic title clashes with Manchester City, where there was no margin for error. Jürgen Klopp’s mentality monsters are the cornerstone of Slot’s age of dominance. All the pain inflicted by Pep Guardiola’s side is being rewarded now. Liverpool are the most battle-hardened team in the Premier League and the players who lived through the Etihad’s golden age have not only seen off City but are passing on their toughness to their younger team-mates.