WHO IS THIS LIVERPOOL?

In 2019, Klopp's Liverpool set a breathtaking pace, leading the EPL in the first 11 games– registering 10 wins and a draw, scoring 25 goals and conceding nine. Under this new regime in same amount of games, they have managed 9 wins, a draw and a defeat, scoring 21 goals and conceding six. Yet they still lead by five points.

I will come back to that reduction in goals conceded.

FOR EXAMPLE

Against Villa in the weekend, it's true that Liverpool had chances to score more than the two goals they managed through Darwin Núñez and Mohamed Salah — both from rapid counterattacks.

But this is where we begin to spot some diffénces from the Liverpool under Klopp. In this Villa match, instead of Liverpool attacking in waves as the "heavy metal" style of Klopp directs, Liverpool took the pace out of the game once they went ahead by playing deeper, keeping the ball and that ofcourse invites Villa to try to come get the ball. This is a snapshot of Slot's Liverpool.

At times, as expected by a sturdy Unai Emery's team that led the entire Champions league phase table till only last week, Villa went close and Liverpool's goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher produced two stunning reflex saves within 30 seconds to keep out headers from Amadou Onana and Pau Torres in the first half. But for the vast majority of the game, Liverpool were in control with Slot's possesion based style, which doesn't totally rule out their old counterattacking prowess. Liverpool still possess that danger in counters. They actually scored from two counterattacks.

After the match, Arne Slot said– "Villa were maybe not as aggressive as we thought they would be, but we were patient." Perhaps Villa played with some caution because of the danger of this Slot's side with their incisive passing. Kudos to Slot then.

Klopp's team was famous for their counterattacking prowess, blessed with pace for this very purpose. Again they were set up to really press and win possession in the opponent's half and be lethal once they win the ball. Slot doesn't have a Sadio Mané or Roberto Firmino in his squad and Salah is now five years older. That's however not a problem for Slot. Luiz Diaz is still a very pacy forward on the left, Darwin Nunez is a speedster striker and Salah hasn't lost all his powers, plus he seems more clinical in front of goal now, plus he creates lots too– eg he made the first goal for Núñez.

So the issue is not the lack of pace of Liverpool's frontline under Slot, it is that Slot employs a different style of play.

First of all, you have a solid defensive pairing of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté, closely working in sync with midfielders Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch. This is the new Liverpool, this is the secret behind their grip on games and it's the secret why they have conceded less, as shown in the first paragraph.

THE DIFFERENCE

Therein lies the most basic difference from Klopp's team. Klopp's team dictated play from the attacking third, while Slot's team dictates games from the centre of the pitch. Like I said before, this style has given them a balance which has helped them against conceding goals.

Well it goes to show that there are many different ways to tune a team into top performances all things being equal. Things have aligned brilliantly for Slot and his blueprint has given Liverpool a healthy lead at this early stage. There will be tougher times ahead and the next batch of fixtures will be a stern test of Liverpool's credentials, but make no mistake about it, they have weathered storms already and they are now the team to beat.

Ofcourse Manchester City and even Arsenal will bounce back. Dec 1, when Liverpool meets City could mean a lot, but the truth is that Slot has proven beyond reasonable doubt that his team are the real deal– they have also been impressive in the Champions league and they top the log now. So it's no fluke their performances.

So who are they? They are the Slot schooled team, a confident style that resembles the mien their coach exudes.

Greetings to Liverpool folks like @kenechukwu97 and @seki1(who actually reported the Villa match),eish just remembered Tfame today