Digging Deeper into Liverpool’s Title-Clinching Victory Against Tottenham

Liverpool are Champions again for the second time in five years

Liverpool have done it, and becoming English Champions with four games to spare is absolutely what this group deserves. The Champions have clinched it all with 82 points, though we won’t know the season’s final points tally, of course, until all the games are played. The Reds could achieve as many as 94 points if they win their final four games, though this will be a big ask, particularly with Arsenal and Chelsea on the immediate horizon, and Brighton and Palace still to come.

Not all the recent years have required 90+ points to win, however: City won with 89 in 2022/23, and only needed 85. In 2020/21 they did it with just 86 — and second-place Manchester United managed just 74. Indeed, when City recorded their 100-point season in the year where seemingly only an in-transition Liverpool could beat them they only needed 82. While a high points value would be nice, the players deserve a bit of celebration (remember in 2020 when City put four past a Liverpool side that looked vaguely hungover? Oh yeah).

Now is the time to relish the success, to hug your loved ones, and to play Dua Lipa often and loudly. For a very long time it seemed as if Liverpool wouldn’t win the league again (despite decades of dominance before I was born). Then they did, only we wouldn’t celebrate it properly, because bigger things were happening in the world. And then the manager who brought Liverpool back to their best left, and we wondered how long it would take his successor to transition, to rebuild, to give the big trophies a go — or even if he was the right choice. Arne Slot didn’t want a transition, didn’t want a rebuild.

There was a league title to be won.

Slot did start of his own celebrations by thanking Klopp, whose legacy is not simply in what he achieved while at Liverpool, but also in how he left the club for his successor:

This digging deeper is going to be a bit atypical, because while the five goals were immense and the tactical plan obviously worked, for once the outcome matters far more than the match itself. And it’s party time at last.

How the Players Reacted to Winning the English Premier League

Liverpool’s captain Virgil Van Dijk had his arms up in celebration before the whistle went confirming his side’s accomplishment. The captain seems intent to drink it all in, and take nothing for granted, including and especially the fanfare:

It’s special and something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing. It’s amazing what today was. There was a lot of emotions before the game and all week, but we got the job done. We are truly deserved champions.

[It’s] the most beautiful club in the world and I think [they] deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.

Mohamed Salah once again echoed his comments in the buildup, thinking about how winning in front of fans makes a difference:

Incredible. Incredible to win the Premier League here with the fans – [it] is something special. You saw that today and you saw it in the game. It’s an incredible feeling to win the Premier League here with Liverpool and the fans.

This is way better [than five years ago], 100 per cent… It feels more special with the fans, but I don’t want to take that from anyone. You have a different group now and a different manager. To show you’re able to do it again is something special.

Goalkeeper Alisson Becker finds it hard to describe his emotions, but knows how special it is to overcome challenges and achieve the big goal:

Oh my God, it’s difficult to put it in words. But it means a lot. It’s a mix of feelings. I was really emotional, to be honest with you, so many things go through your mind. So much sacrifice that we do. So many challenges that we had to face; changing managers, injuries. Myself, I had a big injury this season, the concussion as well. But winning today the way we did, in front of the supporters, with the game – an amazing game that we played – this is fantastic. Only [that] we could lift the trophy today [would] make it full satisfaction. But it’s amazing, special.

Alexis Mac Allister puts this league win in the pantheon of his major career successes, and has a lot of time for how good this Liverpool side are:

To win a World Cup and now a Premier League is something really special. It’s an achievement I really, really enjoyed – but it wouldn’t be possible without my teammates. They are the most important thing for me. I am just one part of the puzzle.

This team is really, really good. Last year we showed it but it wasn’t enough in the end. This time we made a big difference. It’s something really special and hopefully this win, we can enjoy it.

Like Salah, Andy Robertson especially notes how different it is to win it in a party atmosphere rather than in the surreal emptiness in 2020:

The last time we won it was a stranger time, but I suppose we kind of got that feeling against Man United at home. It was pretty much done at that point with [being] 16 or 19 points clear. It’s not like quite clinching it and then obviously the world paused. It was quite unique the way we did it.

We enjoyed it, of course we did, but you can’t beat what we experienced today and how we went to the ground and the fans during and after the game. Nothing quite compares to that and I’m glad we got to experience it that way as well.

Cody Gakpo is proud of the team’s accomplishments, and had time to highlight the Dutch impact from the top down:

It’s amazing. We worked really hard this year. [We have had] special moments, lesser moments in the Champions League, but to get this is amazing. The Dutch impact, I think you guys saw it already. Virgil [van Dijk] is here already a long time, but this year Ryan [Gravenberch] is playing like how we knew him in Holland, he played that here.

It’s amazing to see him play like this and obviously the coach tactically brought the whole team to another level and I think that suits the players we have now. Hopefully we can gear up a little more in the next few years, but it’s a good start.

Premier League Winners: On Film

Our job in coming days and weeks is to find and consume content, celebrating the achievement. Here’s a small sampling to get you started:

Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images

Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

Reds All Over the Land

On Bluesky I asked the room where they’d be watching the match today, and the replies reminded me that we all have our matchday routines, whether it’s what time you head to the ground from town or what you drink your morning coffee from before watching with loved ones or heading to your town’s Liverpool bar.

Many Liverpool fans in the US watched from their local pubs (a bit busier than usual, you’d assume). For many — like those in New York — the crowds meant planning to get in the second the bars opened. For a few, these groups have been carefully built over time: Jim Kogutkiewicz watched in the same bar he watched Istanbul in, with a group of people who have been going there with him.

Some are catching this one on holiday, and forging new communities in their adopted outposts. Dan Fabre is in Cape Town, and did promise that if the Reds did the decent thing he would never return home.

Others are watching from home, with routines set in place from many, many times spent on the couch watching the Reds — though some were doing something a bit special to mark the occasion, whether it be a red cocktail or a fancier-than-usual spread of snacks.

What Comes Next

Liverpool have won the league in Arne Slot’s first season at the club, and the challenge will now be how to maintain and improve. The Reds will look to sign players this summer, and could hardly be in a stronger position to do so than now.

Jürgen Klopp’s departure removed the draw of working with an established, successful manager who could provide any prospective players with examples of his ability to make players better. In contrast, Arne Slot came in as something of an unknown. He arrived with a good reputation in the Dutch League, but the Premier League is a different animal, with its stiff competition and grueling schedule.

Arne Slot managed an almost perfect season, and certainly did better than anyone would have expected first time of asking. Liverpool “won” the group stage of the Champions League and got knocked out on penalties versus a strong PSG side. The Reds lost a League Cup final, but had to make a League Cup final to lose it. Slot might well mourn the latter stages of the FA Cup, but it’s nice to leave something for the future.

Signing Virgil Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah for a couple more years says that the biggest names already on Merseyside believe in this project. It tells everyone outside the club that there’s work to be done here.

Slot now joins a list of very big names when it comes to “Won the Premier League on First Attempt.” Debutants Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, and Antonio Conte did it with Chelsea; Manuel Pellegrini did it with Manchester City; Arne Slot is the fifth.

Liverpool will have some transition to do yet, but the work Klopp did on his way out and what Slot has managed in his first season means Liverpool move into the market from a position of strength. There’s no uncertainty; come here if you want to chase down silverware with these lads, under this man. It looks a very good place to be.