Shortly after a Liverpool coach was recruited and made an instant impression with a few notable scalps, an Anfield executive made a timeless and universal observation.

“Everything a new manager is doing is great when you win, but s--- when you lose,” he said.

No-one knew in 2015 that the appointment in question, Jurgen Klopp, would eventually go on to win the Champions League and Premier League, but the assorted flattering insights into his synchronised counter-pressing and ‘emotional football’ aged well.

It remains to be seen if early positive appraisals of Arne Slot follow a similar trajectory. He has begun better than any previous Liverpool manager and yet it is refreshing that the most vocal Anfield opposition to any premature and bold pronouncements about where it will lead have come from the man himself.

“The sample size is small,” says Slot when asked how he has led Liverpool through its post-Klopp transition to the top of the Premier League.

An identical message was dispatched to his hierarchy when they offered congratulations for recent results. The coronation of a new King of the Kop is on hold at the anointed one’s request. Liverpool are yet to face a Premier League side which finished higher than 8th last season and a more challenging schedule awaits.

That said, cautious optimism is understandable for a fledgling Anfield career which has so far been full of heartening performances on and off the pitch, Slot avoiding the significant pitfalls of replacing one of the most charismatic personalities in his sport.

Convincing Liverpool victories at Old Trafford and San Siro are noteworthy in any era, and when pressed on the most reassuring aspect of Slot’s early months, there are those within the club who point at the reaction to the sole league defeat against Nottingham Forest, the five consecutive wins since rendering it a blip.

Fenway Sports Group appointed Slot having been convinced he possesses the necessary football intellect, their data analysts suggesting his profile fits the exceptional squad he inherited.

What they could not measure is character and temperament. Thrusting Slot into an environment as demanding as Anfield required a leap of faith, particularly given what preceded him. Staying level-headed, enforcing and sticking to a plan in all weather is a prerequisite at a club of Liverpool’s stature.

‘Normal One’ appears to have been replaced by the ‘Calm One’

Klopp left a changing-room leadership group of dominant personalities. Slot has astutely brought them on board, his clear communication and listening skills among the attributes catching immediate attention.

There have been no radical changes to existing routines or playing style, but the alterations have been purposeful enough to ensure everyone knows who is in charge. Slot is more inclined to give detailed meetings debriefing previous games and dissecting the next opponent, while the small-sided training gives way to a full 11-versus-11 practice match for his starting XI a couple of days before a Premier League match if the schedule allows, executing his patterns for the next forensically scrutinised opponent. There are also more one-to-one discussions.

Where Klopp was often fuelled by emotion, especially on matchdays when he stirred the soul with his improvised rallying cries (including to his own Main Stand), the consistency of Slot’s more mellow demeanour is considered one of his most positive assets. He is blunt and straight-talking when necessary - he had no qualms giving the players a dressing-room dressing down about how unimpressed he was about the climax to the game at Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend - but is not volatile.

“I’ve been a player myself and they would make fun of you,” Slot responded when asked if he was inclined to unleash his fury on an underperforming team.

The ‘Normal One’ appears to have been replaced by the ‘Calm One’.

Suffice to say, unlike over the previous nine years, there are unlikely to be diversions into subjects like who should win the United States election, spirituality or modern definitions of socialism in Slot’s interviews. He is more inclined to provide a thorough tactical insight into any of Europe’s high-ranking sides.

Although such focus on the distinguishing features to Klopp have been unavoidable, there are those who see more similarities to Rafael Benitez in Slot’s football-obsessed attention to detail, albeit to impose a different style.

On-field, the instant judgment is Liverpool have become more ‘possession-based’ following the traditional Dutch model. The reality is not so clear.

Liverpool are actually making fewer passes per league game under Slot than in any of Klopp’s full seasons, showing it is where the ball is distributed rather than how often that matters most. Paradoxically, their passing accuracy is higher now than it ever was under the previous manager.

This is a consequence of Liverpool becoming less ‘transitional’, the first encounters not so frantic or end-to-end with the team looking more defensively secure as they reduce high-risk passing and attempt to be less vulnerable to counter-attacks.

Step forward Ryan Gravenberch

When Liverpool have control, there is currently a more identifiable playmaker.

Step forward Ryan Gravenberch, who will be the symbol of the new manager’s intuition and vision should this season prove a success and proof that, occasionally, happy accidents shape a team.

There is a parallel universe at Anfield where Slot recruited deep midfielder Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad to execute his game plan. Had that ambition been realised, Gravenberch’s reinvention as a number six may have been compromised.

Now, what began as a pre-season experiment already looks like the most consequential Anfield positional shift since Klopp asked Roberto Firmino how he felt about being a false nine.

Gravenberch was always destined for a fresh start under a fellow Dutchman and may have found his natural habitat soon enough, but he would have been playing amid the presumption the £51.3 million Spanish Euro 2024 winner would step in sooner rather than later.

Instead, no Premier League midfielder has made more passes than Gravenberch in the first two months of the season, his ability to receive possession from his defenders on the half-turn and turn defence into attack a key aspect of why Slot’s Liverpool are purring.

Gravenberch averages 66 passes per match, significantly more than his predecessors in the role (Alexis Mac Allister last season and Fabinho for the previous four years) and his high ranking in his recoveries and interceptions has delighted his coach as much.

A similar ‘butterfly effect’ can be applied to Luis Diaz, who is thriving under the new coach after an inconsistent previous 12 months, albeit the mitigating circumstances were unprecedented following his father’s kidnapping ordeal in Colombia last November. In June, Liverpool were unable to get a deal across the line with Newcastle United for Anthony Gordon. He would have been an excellent first Slot signing, but at whose expense would he have played when adapting to his boyhood team? Not Mohamed Salah.

Slot took an instant shine to Diaz and Gravenberch in their first training sessions so their chances would have materialised eventually. Nevertheless, he could not have known the pair would be so influential so soon into his reign. Having managed just eight league goals in 37 games last season, Diaz already has five in six matches this time.

Their success speaks to why, three months in, Liverpool are so comfortable with their managerial choice. As when hiring Klopp, FSG sought a coach who would first and foremost work at polishing the gems at his disposal, not become a slave to the idea that the only route to improvement is via the cheque book.

While there was an external debate – even bitter complaints in some quarters – about Liverpool not signing enough players to back their new coach, from Slot there was an appreciation of those he already had and determination to propel the team to its next step.

Slot is not shy of referencing how fortunate he is to have been left a squad of such quality, the foundations of an elite team already in place; Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Salah are world-class players who could start for any club.

Slot arrived at Anfield vowing to keep the ball, but in working with such talent the first challenge was to ensure he did not drop it.

Beyond Crystal Palace on Saturday and the international break, Liverpool face Chelsea, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid and – in the biggest test of all – Manchester City. After their shock loss to Forest, Liverpool’s next encounter with a low-block defence will be informative of lessons learned, too.

The sample size for more thorough assessment will expand soon enough, by which time there will be more opportunity to judge if the slight differences in the short-term will yield significant improvements over Slot’s debut season.

So far, so good, but – as Slot is reminding everyone – he has barely completed the prologue, let alone the first page of a new chapter.