Liverpool manager Arne Slot has said on multiple occasions in recent weeks that observers should reserve judgement on his side until it has come through a tough run of fixtures.
The Reds have started the season in record-breaking form, winning 11 of their 12 matches in all competitions, a sequence that not many people expected given the magnitude of the managerial change that took place at Liverpool over the summer.
Jurgen Klopp spent almost nine years on Merseyside and presided over Liverpool’s greatest spell in decades, and his departure was supposed to leave a void that would take some time to be filled.
That void may well appear at some point in the future – after all, Slot has managed less than three per cent of the amount of games Klopp took charge of at Liverpool, and it would be foolish to think that the Reds won’t experience tough periods under him – but for now, everything looks rosy for the Dutchman at Anfield.
Liverpool’s first 10 games of the season came against underwhelming opposition. On paper, Manchester United and AC Milan looked like they would pose Liverpool’s trickiest tests, but soccer is not played on paper, and United’s and Milan’s current rosters bely the stature of the clubs they represent.
Slot said that Liverpool’s run of seven matches between the October and November international breaks would help to provide a more accurate marker of where his team is at. The fixture list read: Chelsea, RB Leipzig, Arsenal, Brighton (twice), Bayer Leverkusen, and Aston Villa.
Two trips to Germany in the Champions League and five matches against clubs that went into the October break positioned inside the Premier League’s top six. Not an acid test, but a big test, and one that Slot and Liverpool look well on course to pass.
Wins against Chelsea and Leipzig have already been recorded, but the difficulty will increase once again on Sunday with a trip to North London. Ahead of that game, legendary former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez agreed with the current incumbent of the Anfield hot seat that judgement of the team should be not be passed for a few weeks yet.
“When Arne Slot says people should judge his Liverpool side in a few weeks’ time rather than now, it makes total sense to me,” Benitez said in a column published on BBC Sport. “At this stage, he is still finding out about his players himself – and they are also finding out about him too.
“Right now, with the way Liverpool have started the season so well, they can see that they can win every game – which will be an extra motivation for them with some difficult fixtures ahead, starting against Arsenal on Sunday. But there are other things for everyone to learn about each other, that become important at the end of the season if you want to win things. I am talking about character, and the ability to deal with adversity and come through it, that gives you the belief you can do it again.”
If Liverpool records a win at the Emirates to regain top spot in the table, the Reds will go into the four games after that brimming with confidence, and if a few more wins follow, even the measured Slot will struggle to downplay just how well things are going for him and his team.