Slot takes back seat for win in first Anfield experience

Liverpool's Dutch manager exudes calmness on the sidelines

- RICHARD JOLLY

Liverpool 2

Diaz (13) Salah (70)

Brentford 0

An undemonstrative man stood with his hands in his pockets. Now and again, he conveyed instructions, but in an unflashy manner. There were no animated gestures, no fist pumps, no sprints along the touchline. The fourth official was not harangued, which is presumably how he prefers it. The Arne Slot reign began at Anfield and if so far he is defined by who he is not, it is in part because Jurgen Klopp, literally and metaphorically, was such a colossal figure. But the initial impression is that there is life after Klopp.

The result may suggest a low-key start for a more low-key manager. The spectacular scoreline of the day came at Molineux, not Anfield. But Slot has outstripped Klopp in one respect, becoming the first Liverpool manager since Graeme Souness to win his first two league games. He may prefer not to emulate Souness hereafter, but a starting XI of 10 Klopp signings plus Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was given his debut by the German, beat Brentford.

Mohamed Salah, often Liverpool’s top scorer in the Klopp years, is delivering a goal a game at the start of his successor’s tenure. Luis Diaz‘s opener, meanwhile, felt the kind of blisteringly brilliant goal that Slot’s predecessor brought to Merseyside. As, for the first time since 2015, Liverpool were managed by anyone other than Klopp in a competitive game at Anfield, there was change in the dugout, but rather less on the pitch.