He galvanised his team just as effectively. Nunez's overwrought protest at Brooks' decision, slapping his cheeks in incredulity before lashing out at thin air, mirrored the amateur dramatics of his manager.

It is an unenviable task for anybody to follow in the footsteps of a titan, but Slot is performing it with remarkable conviction. Already he can add Chelsea to Milan and Manchester United in his collection of early scalps, his connection with the Kop growing in intensity with every game.

While it has been wise to reserve judgment until now, Liverpool's one-point lead over Manchester City, with 15 league goals scored and only three conceded, tells its own story.

As his side chase a third consecutive Champions League victory this week at RB Leipzig, the case that they can contend for major honours this season grows stronger.

Slot's poise and consistency attests to the talent of Michael Edwards, Liverpool's chief executive of football, for recruiting the right person at the right time.

Slot carving out his own nicheIt is not just that Slot's philosophy on the game, eschewing Klopp's "heavy metal" excesses in favour of a more elegant, possession-based style, suits the club's needs as they plot how to dethrone Pep Guardiola's City. It is that he has won over supporters by offering them something of his soul.

This was the first time Slot had been shown a yellow card, not that fans cared a jot. Brooks, who objected to him frantically demanding why a penalty had not been awarded for Levi Colwill's challenge on Mohamed Salah, booked him for remonstrating once too often. Not that Slot was inclined to make an issue of it.

"I deserved it," he said. "It came from three or four decisions that didn't go our way." In truth, Brooks rarely appeared in control of a game where tempers frequently frayed. The atmosphere of indignation appeared to fuel Slot, who spent much of the first half berating the fourth official.