After the 22-second goal came the 26-minute strike. Arne Slot provided the definition of both an impact substitute and an instant impact when Diogo Jota scored at Nottingham Forest, with his first touch, 22 seconds after he and his provider, Kostas Tsimikas, entered proceedings. Four days later, Darwin Nunez broke the deadlock 26 minutes after his own introduction. His second goal, two minutes later, was assisted by another replacement, Harvey Elliott, 13 minutes into his cameo against Brentford.

“It's so nice for me, for us as a team, that I have players that can impact the game on the bench as well,” reflected Slot. As Liverpool resume their Champions League campaign, top of the table and with the only 100 percent record in the competition, two of their outstanding performances in the competition came from men likely to begin on the bench against Lille on Tuesday. When Real Madrid were beaten 2-0, Caoimhin Kelleher saved Kylian Mbappe’s penalty. And if the goalkeeper was not the man of the match, it is because Conor Bradley produced a barnstorming display.

Each forms part of a bigger picture. Liverpool now seem to have the most balanced squad in Europe; perhaps the best compiled, too. Which feels all the odder as they had a summer of inactivity, the only arrival injected straight away being Federico Chiesa, who has played one minute in the Champions League and 21 in the Premier League. Their aborted bid to bring in Martin Zubimendi risked looking a flagship failure.

Instead, damning comparisons have since been drawn between other clubs’ squad-building and Liverpool’s. Arsenal have found themselves lacking the attacking options Slot enjoys. Manchester City somehow ended up with a solitary specialist centre-forward and defensive midfielder apiece; Erling Haaland did not get injured, but Rodri has. Liverpool, meanwhile, have the logic and luxury of two players for every position (and, unlike Chelsea, not such a surfeit for some roles that senior footballers languish utterly unused). They have strength in depth.

The all-conquering group seem part of an enviable inheritance. Slot has used his squad wisely, and his substitutes increasingly influentially, but no signing has his stamp. One team of high achievers was shaped by the sporting director Richard Hughes: but that of Bournemouth, his previous club. Chiesa’s cut-price fee and talent appealed to Hughes, even if injuries mean his signing scarcely rates as a success so far.

Instead, this group was formed by several who have left Anfield (and, in one case, returned) or who linger in the background. Excellent decision-making dates back years; there are few mistakes even if, arguably, Saturday’s £85m match-winner could be described as such.

Liverpool can spend in part because, at times, they make a little money go a long way. Their academy has furnished them with five of their main 22 players: the vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold may be the only first choice among them, though Curtis Jones looked one in his tour de force against Chelsea. Jarell Quansah briefly became one last season, while Bradley and Kelleher are such good understudies that their status as back-ups feels unsustainable. In addition, they took in two teenagers, signed at 16 and 18 for a combined £5.25m, and improved them. Joe Gomez and Harvey Elliott are deputies now, and Slot looked initially unconvinced by the defender when he omitted him from the 20-man squad for the season opener at Ipswich. But that £5.25m has brought 370 Liverpool appearances.

That Gomez predated Jurgen Klopp showed the time involved in assembling a squad. Much of it reflects the fine work of Michael Edwards in his time as sporting director. Edwards’ transfer-market triumphs range from the bargain, in Andy Robertson at £7m to the record-breaking, in Virgil van Dijk, at £75m, though arguably the greatest was Mohamed Salah, the scorer of 232 Liverpool goals.

And yet there was a further factor. In the Edwards interregnum, just before and between his return as Fenway Sports Group’s CEO of football, Klopp had a greater say in signings. The forward and midfield lines of Liverpool 2.0 were in part his work. Jota came when Edwards held sway, the excellent Cody Gakpo after the transfer guru’s departure. Neither Luis Diaz nor Nunez were proposed by Edwards; the winger has been reinvented and rendered more prolific by Slot. The striker looks an awkward fit for a Slot side but the Dutchman, unlike some counterparts elsewhere, has found a role for everyone.

And in midfield, the 2023 rebuilding job for Klopp and Jorg Schmadtke, briefly the sporting director, grew greater when Saudi clubs came calling for Fabinho and Jordan Henderson. Some 18 months on, their £150m overhaul looks inspired. Wataru Endo suited Klopp far more than Slot, but the new manager has turned Ryan Gravenberch into a pivotal figure. Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, meanwhile, looked terrific additions from the start.

If part of the key has been that Liverpool have been almost immune to errors, another is that they had the sense to headhunt a manager who was a fine fit for the squad. Even if some of Klopp’s buys might not have been ideal for Edwards, there is a coherence to it. The arrivals tend to have the physicality to play Liverpool’s brand of football. They have few injuries now, with only Jota and Gomez sidelined. Yet they coped in autumn when absences were more frequent. It was an indication understudies had the ability to be starters.

And for much of the season, the initial 11 tended to be decisive. Whereas Klopp conjured 49 goals and assists from substitutes last season, Slot needed rather fewer. Now Liverpool’s last five goals have all come from replacements, including the strikes by Jayden Danns and Chiesa against Accrington Stanley. They were footnotes, but more recent strikes could be decisive in the final reckoning. The destination of the Premier League title, or the Champions League, may ultimately be determined by Liverpool’s squad.