Nobody predicted Liverpool would be as good as they are when Jurgen Klopp shocked the world and quit the Premier League. Except, it turns out, the man himself.

“I love you. The football you can play is ridiculous and I can’t wait for you to make the next steps,” Klopp said during his farewell address in the Anfield dressing room. “With new ideas and new energy… the sky’s the limit for you boys.”

Approaching the midway point of this season, Klopp’s prophecy is proving thrillingly correct.

From the day Arne Slot walked into Anfield, the general theme around Liverpool has been they are ‘similar but different’ to the team Klopp built.

The similarities have been obvious in the personnel, relentless attacking football and the familiar position of heading into the new year with ambitions of claiming four trophies.

The differences have been the subtle tactical and positional tweaks, the less-fiery touchline demeanour of the coach and overall willingness to adapt to alternative beats while still embracing Klopp’s trademark ‘heavy-metal football’.

Rather than pine for their former coach, the Klopp stalwarts who won the top honours have been on board the Slot bandwagon from day one. Those most synonymous with the Klopp era such as Virgil van Dijk and Alisson have skilfully spoken of their respect for what came before while emphasising the need to move on.

“We don’t have to compare ourselves with the teams in the past, we have to create our own history,” says Alisson.

“This season this group has to create its own history. With the players who came in, they brought a lot of quality, and what we are doing, what we can do, we’re not going to erase the things we did in the past that were really special and will always be in the history of this club.”

It amounts to quite the package with those who have already won the Premier League and Champions League leading the more recent recruits such as Ryan Gravenberch to the next level.

“I think if at the beginning of the season we looked to this point now and are told the numbers, the amount of points that we have, the place we are, we would sign it off immediately,” reflects Alisson.

“When Arne joined the club, everybody thought it would be hard work for him to replace a manager like Jurgen. But he’s showing his qualities and he brings us a lot of good things. It’s not only one key, but many things.

“I want to highlight the commitment of this team, of the players, to do what the manager asks, to go every day and train hard and have the desire to improve – to be a better team and the desire of winning big things. That will always be an important point for a team that wants to be a winner. Winning is not everything, of course, but it’s a big part of football so I want to remember this team as a winning team.”

Alisson says the winning mentality may be the biggest overlap between the Klopp and Slot eras, but he is not keen on the regular comparisons.

“I don’t think it’s too similar, (it’s) two different teams,” said the Brazil No 1.

“A few players still play in this team, but we have a little bit different style now, more ball possession where before it was really straightforward: a lot of transition, a lot of intensity. That team was really special, we achieved great things, it was the first Premier League title for this club in a long time. We achieved the Champions League together as well, the season before. But I think there’s no comparison with both situations. What makes me happy is to see that with this group of players we have the quality to do something special and the most important thing is the commitment that is needed to win something is there, and the passion, the desire. We are hungry and we want to win every game in front of us.”

Liverpool 2.0 has something else in common with Klopp’s first side as both suffered the torment of seeing ambitions thwarted before taking those ‘next steps’.

Klopp’s Liverpool team lost the 2018 Champions League final before winning it a year later, and finally ended the 30-year Premier League title wait in 2020, 12 months after losing to Manchester City by a point.

The players Klopp left behind are fuelled by the memory of last season’s lapse in the title run-in to ensure they are better equipped to go the distance.

“All the experience that we have, it’s good to think about that. The good things and the bad things, the good moments and the bad moments, they will teach you,” said Alisson.

“The bad moments I think they will teach a lot. So, yes, we can take a lot of lessons from last season.

“We have a few players that are playing here long enough to experience the highest peak of the Jurgen Klopp era, and the lowest as well. So all these kinds of things you can use as a boost of energy, and we know we can see the quality that we have so that’s something that brings you energy and makes you put a lot of effort in to achieve good things.

“But we are in a different moment now as well. You can see that all players are fully committed, everybody’s fit, we have a few players injured, but everybody who is able to play is in really good shape.

“I can tell you that the commitment of the players to be in a good shape as well. That’s something that we learnt from the past as well. That you don’t only win games at the match day, you win games before, preparing yourself, making yourself in the best shape possible.

“We are happy about our position, but still the best side of it is still that we can improve.”