It will take far more than this raucous occasion for Arne Slot to be added to the legendary Kop banner bearing the faces of five managers, from Bill Shankly to Jurgen Klopp, who have shaped Liverpool and given the club such a rich history.
But there was a feeling around this place on Sunday night that the successor to Anfield’s last great leader really can take the team on.
It had been a tense, febrile, absorbing occasion, which raged until the very last, was in the balance until the very last, and ultimately needed the collective will of the Anfield crowd to see Liverpool home.
But the level of elation from Slot’s players on the pitch at the end of it all told the story of a side who needed a win of real significance to show that they are real challengers. It’s seven wins in eight league games for Slot’s Liverpool, now.
This was the one that mattered.
Liverpool moved back to the top of the Premier League after beating Chelsea at Anfield
Curtis Jones tucked home a neat finish at the near post to wrap up all three points for the Reds
Mohamed Salah had opened the scoring from the penalty spot after a foul on Jones
Slot has brought a more conservative form of football these past few months. More easy listening than heavy metal, as Liverpool have looked to overcome opponents with passes and play out from the back. Echoes of autumn of 1974, when Bob Paisley, adapted the Bill Shankly creed, with its volts of electricity.
We witnessed that new ethos again on Sunday, though it was a challenge which also required – and delivered – more from Liverpool.
We witnessed pace, pressing and fight from a side who went short and long with their passing. And it was no coincidence that the emblem of the team’s endeavours was a 23-year-old on whom Slot has clearly already had a very significant impact.
Curtis Jones was asked simultaneously to deal with Cole Palmer, notionally Chelsea’s most substantial threat, in the pockets of space on the inside of their right flank, and help drive Liverpool forward with his passing game.
An unenviable task which he more than accomplished.
‘It’s probably the happiest I’ve been in terms of a style of play that suits me,’ Jones said, a few months back, of the new manager’s more nuanced passing philosophy. ‘It’s a clear plan in training and he’s fully involved, coaching us a lot.’
This was only Jones’ second start this season, though that new-found confidence was written through his performance.
The penalty he won on the half hour, converted by Mohamed Salah to put Liverpool ahead, was the headline moment of the first half, though his intervention two minutes earlier – a vital block when Palmer shaped to shoot after Noni Madueke had beaten Andy Robertson to locate him – was just as significant.
Jones tracked Palmer as if his life depended upon it and the sight of him, at the end of the first half, remonstrating with Virgil van Dijk for not closing the midfielder down after he had entered the defender’s sphere of influence, telegraphed how he viewed this challenge. Van Dijk seemed to accept the censure.
Nicolas Jackson equalised for the Blues after sliding into the corner shortly after half-time
Jackson was released beyond Virgil van Dijk and kept his cool to beat Caoimhin Kelleher
Salah sent Robert Sanchez the wrong way with an emphatic spot-kick on the 30-minute mark
A clumsy challenge from Levi Colwill on Jones saw referee John Brooks point to the spot
And then, after Chelsea’s counter-attacking pace had earned them an equaliser, Jones struck to secure the points.
Fastest to attack a ball whipped in by Salah. Ice in his veins as he controlled with his left foot and guided home with his right past Robert Sanchez, who seemed curiously slow to respond. It has been the week of his life, for sure. His goal celebration told of the arrival of his first child, Giselle Delilah Jones, a few days ago.
His contribution was needed because Chelsea crackled with intent for an opening half hour in which they looked the better side. Jadon Sancho tested Trent Alexander-Arnold and looked like he might have the velocity to do him danger. Twice, Ibrahim Konate had to step across defence to help out.
Madueke also had the better of Robertson several times on the opposite flank. But Chelsea simply lacked the finish. Palmer, so dangerous in this season’s early weeks, was a peripheral figure. Sancho’s threat melted away.
With goalkeeper Robert Sanchez inspiring no confidence in his defence, there was also havoc at the back for Chelsea, and Jones was the clear and present danger.
First drawing Levi Colwill’s clumsy challenge on him – his left leg making clear contact – for the penalty. Then stealing possession from Moises Caicedo to set up a move which saw Cody Gakpo net at the back post, before Salah, the provider, was ruled offside.
Jones looked to have won another penalty after tumbling under contact from Sanchez
But the referee reversed his decision after being advised to check his pitchside monitor
Tosin Adarabioyo (left) escaped a red card just five minutes in after bringing down Diogo Jota
Then running onto a pass from substitute Darwin Nunez and facing down Sanchez, who upended him. VAR ruled that the goalkeeper had touched the ball before making contact with Jones and a penalty award was withdrawn.
Briefly, Diogo Jota threatened, too. Tosin Adarabioyo was booked for pulling him down six minutes in, as he threatened to spin past him and on to goal – a challenge which prematurely ended the Portuguese’s afternoon. Nunez, replacing Jota, brought a quality of hold-up play which added another dimension for Liverpool.
Chelsea’s pace still brought threats and Liverpool will reflect on an afternoon which was far from perfection. Nicolas Jackson hit the outside of the post after accelerating through and Konate’s foot played the same striker onside as he raced into the path of Caicedo’s pass to score after the break.
That goal was called offside but awarded after a VAR intervention. Slot reflected on referee John Brooks’ ‘eventful decisions.’ He might have chosen other words for them.
Liverpool had the chance for a third when Salah found Gakpo, only for the Dutchman to squander the chance, but it was Chelsea who came closest in the game’s later stages.
Tensions flared as the clock ticked closer to the 90 with Darwin Nunez in the thick of the action
Cole Palmer endured a quiet evening on Merseyside as the Blues fell to a narrow defeat
Pedro Neto, an improvement on Sancho after replacing him, almost found Christopher Nkunku, who couldn’t convert. Palmer floated a ball for Renato Veiga, who headed tamely over. At the end of it all, Slot made no pretence that his side had ridden their luck.
Jones departed to an Anfield ovation ten minutes from time and when the whistle had blown and the Liverpool staff and substitutes were streaming out onto the pitch, Slot immediately sought him out.
‘He’s big on the finer details,’ player said of manager when they had started to work together. Those ‘details’ had Liverpool top of the Premier League on Sunday, fortified by the win as they contemplate a vital and difficult period, with Arsenal, Brighton and Aston Villa in their path, in the next ten days.
Consolations for Chelsea, who are winless in their last nine meetings with Liverpool, include the fact that this match was a lot closer than many of those. But the team whose bus pulled out of Merseyside are, for all their vast outlay on players, left grappling for a plan and some answers for their own road ahead.