As Liverpool slumped to a humiliating defeat at Manchester City in early April, Jurgen Klopp was left with plenty to digest as he watched the merciless mauling of his side from the sidelines of the Etihad Stadium.
There was plenty for the German to dissect with the defending against Pep Guardiola's side leaving much to be desired as goals from Julian Alvarez, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish cancelled out Mohamed Salah's early opener.
Defeat in east Manchester left the Reds seven points adrift of the top-four places and in desperate need of a reset ahead of their upcoming Premier League games against Chelsea and title-chasing Arsenal.
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By consequence, Klopp would undertake a back-to-basics practice for his side's visit to Stamford Bridge in the following midweek, with Joe Gomez, Kostas Tsimikas, Curtis Jones, Joel Matip and Darwin Nunez all rotated into the starting eleven as Liverpool and Chelsea played out their seemingly biannual Premier League stalemate.
Yet despite restoring Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson and Cody Gakpo for the Gunners' visit to Anfield just four days later, this particular fixture would effectively generate the blueprint for Klopp's building of a second, great Liverpool dynasty.
That would be down to the position of Trent Alexander-Arnold in possession, who was given more scope for freedom against the North Londoners. The 24-year-old subsequently helped his side salvage a merited draw in the closing stages of a modern-day thriller as he schooled Oleksandr Zinchenko with a nutmeg under the breath of the Kop before crossing perfectly for Roberto Firmino to bullet his header past Aaron Ramsdale.
It was during the first half of that distinct afternoon, however, that Granit Xhaka made the foolish blunder of squaring up to Alexander-Arnold. In doing so, despite boasting a two-goal lead, the Switzerland international would mark Easter Sunday by resurrecting the Anfield crowd after a sheepish opening 30 minutes.
And little over an hour later as both sets of players slumped to the turf in sync with the full-time whistle as they conceded the desperate need for three points in pursuit of their respective objectives this term, Sky Sports' Gary Neville singled out the exchange between Xhaka and Alexander-Arnold as one that caused the pendulum to sway into Liverpool’s favour.
But now, four weeks and six Premier League wins later, that flash point between the two seems to have not just breathed new life into Liverpool's performance over the Easter weekend - but also Alexander-Arnold's season.
Since then he's operated with a restored swagger, been at the heart of his team's late-season revival, laid on six assists in his last seven Premier League games and assumed a Steven Gerrard-like rule of responsibility in the centre of the park; all of which have been missing for much of the campaign as late year's quadruple chase has been followed up with a timid showing across all four competitions.
When asked to assess the enriched form of Liverpool's No.66 in recent weeks, Klopp said: “We nearly had four trophies last year, we had a short pre-season and [what if] I go out there and say, ‘Okay we change everything?
"That would have probably been smart, but I’m not smart enough to do that. And didn’t have the time - on top of that. That’s the problem as well. So sometimes you need a point in a season where you have to think, ‘We have nothing to lose’, now we can really [kick on].
"That’s why I said we are already in a new season without being in a new season.”
Indeed, Alexander-Arnold's transformation will make Liverpool's expected failure to qualify for next season's Champions League all the more difficult for Kopities to digest, with Manchester United still primed to secure a return to Europe's premier competition. However, defeat to West Ham on Sunday means they now lead the Reds by just one point with a game in hand.
If that is to be the case, the Reds' wretched start to 2023, which saw them win just one of their opening five Premier League games, will be earmarked as the fatal stretch. And given how swiftly Liverpool have adapted to their latest change, Klopp will no doubt be left rueing his decision not to utilise his last throw of the dice at an earlier stage in the campaign.
One can only ask how different the Reds' fortunes would look heading into next season if such a switch had occurred in early 2023?
But all is not lost because, at a time when Julian Ward is tasked with laying the foundations for the building of a new era at Anfield, Alexander-Arnold's evolution may just have saved the Reds' outgoing sporting director an enormous task with Liverpool having unexpectedly stumbled upon their newest tactical masterplan - which, as Klopp says, would not have occurred had the stakes in the final weeks and months of the season been reminiscent to those of previous trophy-chasing seasons.
Meaning, after all, there could just be some solace for Liverpool to take from this truly forgettable season.
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