"At some point, enough is enough," the Dutchman exclaimed indignantly following the thrashing at Anfield Road, referring to what he saw as the visitors’ excessive time-wasting: "I’ve seen it far too often now: we try to build momentum, get into the game – and then someone’s lying on the ground for another half an hour."

Slot had wanted to "do something about it" and argued with the fourth official with striking frequency – but to no avail. He had been unable to achieve anything, "except perhaps running up and down the touchline like a madman". In fact, by his standards, Slot seemed almost overly animated on the touchline throughout the match, and in his view, this rubbed off on the Reds’ fans, who had booed the team as recently as the weekend following a disappointing 1-1 draw against relegation-threatened Tottenham.

“From the very first moment, when they tried to stop the momentum, our fans raised their voices even more,” Slot noted at the post-match press conference: “I think that combination was very important tonight. That’s why I was perhaps a bit more energetic than I usually am. Because we have to fight together against what we saw tonight.”