There have been a lot of questions around Liverpool recently, and plenty of frustration. But Brighton at Anfield felt like one of those days where, without being perfect, a few really important things fell back into place. Not everything is fixed, far from it, yet there were signs all over the ground that this team and this crowd still have something to say together.
The crowd finally sounded like Anfield again
The first big thing to shout out is the home support. We’ve all heard people rave about the away end in Milan and other trips, saying it’s the hardcore on the road keeping the spirit going. This time it genuinely felt like that energy was dragged back into Anfield.
Listening back and watching it unfold, it was probably the first time in a long while that the home crowd really made themselves felt from first whistle to last. Not just the odd roar, but a proper backing, especially when the game got sticky. You could sense a shift, like the hardcore in the stands had decided, collectively, that they were going to grab the narrative and back Arne Slot rather than sit in the gloom.
That matters. Managers and players pick up on it, and you could see from the touchline and on the pitch that the atmosphere gave them something to lean on when legs and minds were tired.
Four games in ten days and still finding a way
The schedule has been brutal. Four games in ten days is a lot for any squad, never mind one trying to adapt to a new manager and new ideas. You could see the fatigue in patches, the tempo dropping here and there, little decisions going astray.
But they dug it out. That’s the bit that stands out. The team showed grit, stayed in the fight and didn’t fold when it would have been easy to say the fixtures had caught up with them. Whatever you think about the performances overall in this rough spell, it’s pretty clear these lads are still playing for their manager. The reactions, the running off the ball, the way they saw the game out all pointed to a group that hasn’t chucked it.
Mo Salah looking more like himself
Mo Salah also deserves a mention. This felt like his best game since March: sharper touches, better decisions, more of that constant threat we associate with him. He wasn’t just drifting around; he was properly involved.
Nobody knows exactly what’s coming next for him, and there’s no point pretending otherwise. If he does decide to move on at some stage, performances like this at least keep his Liverpool story in a good light. You want one of the club’s great modern players to go out, whenever that is, looking like himself rather than as a faded version.
Arne Slot and the test of a bad run
The other big thing in all of this is Slot himself. He’s not really had to live through an extended bad run before in his career, at least not at this level. This recent spell has clearly been a proper test of him, the type of period that can almost break a manager if they let the noise get too loud.
But sometimes these rough patches end up defining you. If he does manage to turn this round and come out the other side stronger, then you feel even more confident that he’s the right guy for Liverpool in the long term. You learn a lot more in the hard weeks than you do when everything’s bouncing.
Brighton won’t go down as a classic, and nobody should pretend it solves every issue. Still, between the crowd stepping up, the team digging deep and Mo looking lively again, it felt like a small but important step back in the right direction for Liverpool and for Slot.
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