Liverpool’s excellence brings Arne Slot a new dilemma with unknown consequences

If Jurgen Klopp turned mantras into catchphrases and vice-versa, Arne Slot has a less memorable way with words. Klopp talked of mentality monsters, of turning doubters into believers, of their identity being intensity, of Liverpool 2.0. Slot talks about not getting carried away. A lot. Which, in part, is because his start, of 18 wins in 21 games, could give supporters and his squad alike licence to do just that.

In his attempt to downplay everything, Slot often mentions that his players are accustomed to being top of the Premier League. Perhaps it suits him, too, that a lead has been trimmed from nine points to seven and then, without Liverpool playing, to four. Yet they are not accustomed to being top of the Champions League: not like this, anyway. A core of them have won the competition, in 2019. Some have won a group. But not a 36-team group, not one that contains everyone.

So far, Liverpool have beaten the European superpower in Real Madrid, historic giants in AC Milan, and last season’s Bundesliga invincibles Bayer Leverkusen. They have the only 100 per cent record, with a lone goal conceded. They would seem to have broken the back of their group. And their current berth at the top of the standings can give a greater weight to European exploits than in previous autumns.

Or can it? Perhaps typically, Slot was non-committal. Or perhaps it is an indication of how everyone is finding their way with a new format that he isn’t sure. “You can only judge it [later] in the best possible way,” Slot said. “It is helpful to finish top eight. Is it helpful to end up No 1? If in the end by playing your starters always and skipping the round and still having a very difficult draw, then maybe we are going to think about differently next season what we are going to do in the group stage.”

For now, the probability is that Liverpool only need one win to secure a top-eight finish. They face Girona on Tuesday, a side who stand 30th in the table, who have lost four of their first five games. Slot, perhaps typically, thinks the Catalan club have played better than their results suggest. Yet a sixth straight European win would almost certainly enable Liverpool to miss the play-off round.

“We are pushing really hard to end up top eight, to have the best possible seeding but also to skip that round,” said Slot. He joked that a team accustomed to playing every three days would have to arrange friendlies to fill the gap. With Liverpool facing a fixtures backlog after the postponement of the Merseyside derby, missing February’s play-off round would be welcome; it may also give scope for the trip across Stanley Park to be rearranged.

But, with a typical determination not to get carried away, Slot rebuffed suggestions that sitting out a round in Europe would give Liverpool an advantage in the domestic title race. “I assume these clubs you are mentioning end up in the top eight as well,” he said. “Arsenal [are] 95 per cent sure, [Manchester] City have to do more but they are able to win three games in a row as well.”

City, though, form part of Liverpool’s case to be the continent’s finest at the moment. Slot’s side first beat Real and then City in a glorious few days. Jude Bellingham called them the “best-performing team in Europe”, a phrase that stopped short of Real actually branding anyone else the best.

But Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola’s previously all-conquering sides are two grounds to wonder precisely what first place would bring. The initial presumption was that the favourites would be grouped at the top of the table, that City and Madrid may want to take the first two spots to ensure they did not face each other before the final. Now there is the chance they meet in the play-off round. Being top seeds in the last 16 could have an unwanted knock-on effect if say, Real came 16th, then won their play-off to be pitted against the first finishers in the 36-team pool. As it is City, are 17th: it puts them on course for a potential last-16 meeting with Liverpool. Not, once again, that Slot sees it that way.

A preference for withholding judgment until the end of the season may be cautious, but it is also rooted in logic. There would, of course, be no prize for winning the group stage if it is followed by a swift exit in the last 16. The Bundesliga has its winter champions, its Herbstmeister, the Premier League its statistics about teams who were top at Christmas; only two of the last six have become champions. Early excellence is not always a marker of eventual success. Momentum is not always sustained.

But Liverpool have a chance to finish with eight wins from eight. They are already mustering rare feats. The only time Liverpool managed a 100 per cent record in the group, in 2021-22 under Klopp, they went on to the final. They lost that, prompting Klopp to tell their fans to book hotels in Istanbul for the following year’s final. It was a typically eye-catching statement from the former manager. His successor lets his results do the talking. For now, though, he may not be alone in wondering whether finishing first out of 36 is important or irrelevant.