It’s not been a classic couple of games, but after the hammering at Spurs, which could have seriously dented morale, it was vital to get some points on the board. Indeed, add the tricky cup tie at Brighton (all of Dalglish’s cup ties second time around have been away) and it’s three wins on the spin, without ever hitting top gear.

There are still a few questions to be answered; the early season promise that sprang from victory at Arsenal and the joyous pass-and-move dismantlement of Bolton seems a long time ago (even if, in this topsy-turvy country, the summer has only just arrived in October).

But in fairness, we’re now back to the more realistic ambitions of 4th place, rather than dreaming of a re-run of 1987/88, based mostly on (unfairly) extrapolating some nostalgia across two early-season games.

This post is for Subscribers only.

[ttt-subscribe-article]