'He witnessed the true power' - national media spot Arne Slot change in 'maelstrom' of Liverpool win

Liverpool moved two points clear at the Premier League's summit with a 2-1 win over Brighton at Anfield on Saturday.

After Ferdi Kadioglu had given the visitors a deserved lead in the first period it was goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah that turned it around to secure a vital victory on a day when title rivals Arsenal and Manchester City both lost.

The ECHO, as ever, was on hand to provide its usual mix of player ratings, match verdict and analysis of proceedings at Anfield, while our colleagues from the national media gave their own considered takes too. Here's what they were saying after the latest Liverpool triumph.

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The Daily Mail's Lewis Steele remarked: "Arne Slot has done a remarkable job in stamping authority on his new team given he has been operating in the shadows of his legendary predecessor. This victory, though, had all the hallmarks of a Jurgen Klopp classic.

"To use the old phrase coined by Klopp, this was the Mentality Monsters 2.0, as the Reds showed resilience in abundance to fight back from a goal down – and stinking first-half performance – to beat a spirited Brighton team and return to the Premier League summit.

"It all felt a bit like the late 2010s and Klopp’s great team who won a sixth European Cup and first-ever Premier League for Liverpool. Mohamed Salah curling goals into the top corner, the midfield pressing like relentless dogs let off a leash and Joe Gomez imperious at the back.

"Slot had namechecked two teams on Friday as sides he used to rush home to watch or study their tactics: Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and, *checks notes*, Brighton. Funnily enough, Brighton played like prime Barcelona for 45 minutes and strangled Liverpool to near-submission.

"They say the great Liverpool managers ‘get’ the club and this felt like the day he might have gained a true understanding of the folklore around the fields of Anfield Road, as the Kop almost sucked the ball into the net in a fightback performance this club is famed for."

Paul Joyce, of The Times, wrote: "Arne Slot waited. And waited some more. And then, just when he might have wondered if it would be one of those days when everything that could go wrong did go wrong, he witnessed the true power of Anfield.

"The maelstrom that whipped up around Brighton & Hove Albion in the second half was started by the home crowd recognising their team, outplayed and cut adrift at the interval, needed assistance. It would push Liverpool over the line.

"There may have been an element of fortune about Cody Gakpo’s equalising goal, which was intended as a cross but nestled in the corner of the net, but there was no luck involved for the winner three minutes later.

"Mohamed Salah cut inside Pervis Estupinan and thumped a stunning finish beyond Bart Verbruggen in a blur and the roar that filled the air would have reverberated for miles around.

"It was five years to the day since Liverpool came from behind to beat Aston Villa and add fuel to their title-winning season and, given the losses endured by Arsenal and Manchester City, this felt like a significant day."

Chris Bascombe, of The Telegraph, mused: "He has been at Anfield four months, but this could be the day Arne Slot truly became Liverpool’s manager.

"When inspiration was needed, a team and stadium in need of galvanising after a shocking 45 minutes, Slot and his players found the answers. Mohamed Salah’s sizzling winner completed a stirring comeback against Brighton and suddenly Liverpool are top of the Premier League again.

"Liverpool will linger on the joys of the second half, how the old intensity returned and Brighton did not know what hit them as Slot saw the power of Anfield for arguably the first time since his appointment.

"They must also heed the lesson from the turmoil of the first half.

"Throughout their excellent run at the start of Slot’s reign, there has been a nagging doubt that something is not quite right. Theories abound. Do they need a No 10 or striker with more killer instinct? Are they occasionally guilty of slowing the game down too much when a higher tempo is required.

"The side that was once the best in the world without the ball had temporarily taken the day off. Liverpool’s recent success has been built on the non-negotiables of harrying opponents into cul-de-sacs, and generally treating opponents with contempt for having the audacity to attempt a passing sequence in a danger zone.

"The evolution of a team more eager to retain possession might bring the peril of players less accustomed to the dirty work. Against sides equally adept at keeping the ball, bad habits spell trouble."

Over on The Mirror's pages, Mark Jones focuses on the performance of substitute Joe Gomez: "Gomez was superb for Liverpool in the second period as they attacked the Kop. He frequently stepped in to win the ball high and often from Danny Welbeck and Georginio Rutter, both of whom had been excellent in the first half.

"It wasn't that Konate had put in a bad performance before his arm injury, but the introduction of an eager Gomez plus the state of the game just gelled superbly, and Quansah can only have been impressed with what he saw.

"It would be tempting to say that Gomez is ostensibly Liverpool's fourth-choice central defender, but he's proven throughout his career that he doesn't really deal in rankings. There have been times during his nine years at Anfield when he's been first pick for each position across the back line and times when he's been out of the picture for each role. It doesn't matter to him.

"That is what Quansah can watch and learn from as he continues a challenging season which saw him taken off on the opening day at Ipswich and late on against Brighton in the Carabao Cup in midweek, replaced on both occasions by Konate.

"When the time came to deputise for the Frenchman it was Gomez who Slot turned to, and how he repaid him. Liverpool's longest serving player could have left the club in the summer, but he's still got a lot to give them yet. And so has Quansah too."

And in the ECHO, Ian Doyle's dedicated part of his analysis to Arne Slot's start as head coach, which is now 13 wins from 15 matches.

"So continues Arne Slot’s remarkable start as Liverpool head coach, this win number 13 from 15 games in charge," he writes. This, though, was another landmark in his fledgling reign, the first time in the Premier League his team had come from behind to earn a victory.

"While the opponent was hugely contrasting, the challenge in the second half was similar to that faced against Nottingham Forest – and how that result can now be put into context – back in September. Frustrated that afternoon, this time Liverpool were patient in finding the answer. They are learning.

"Having beaten Brighton in the League Cup less than 72 hours earlier, this was the 12th occasion during the Premier League era the Reds had played the same team twice in different competitions in the same week, but the first time since 1995 they had won both games.

"Bayer Leverkusen and the returning Xabi Alonso are up next in the Champions League on Tuesday. But that there will be no lament at what might have been over the Spaniard standing in the away dugout says much about how Reds supporters are now fully invested in the Slot era."