In this trying, testing season, the first real achievement available to Jurgen Klopp is at least now secure: Liverpool's name will be in the hat when the draw for the last 16 of the Champions League is made on November 7.
If the Reds' early season troubles have probably left them fighting only for the secondary prize of a top-four place on the domestic front, their continental conquests have kept the primary ambition burning in Europe.
For the sixth successive season, Klopp's side will contest the knockout phases after a 3-0 win here at the Johan Cruyff ArenA against Ajax ensured their European adventure will extend into 2023.
PLAYER RATINGS: Mohamed Salah and one other excellent in win at Ajax
ANALYSIS: Paul Scholes is right about Jordan Henderson as Liverpool standards overlooked
That sort of achievement has been considered routine in recent years given it's a checkpoint that has been so regularly passed under Klopp's guidance, but few things can be taken for granted this time out as the manager continues to grapple with the problems that are, at times, overpowering his injury-hit and sporadically out-of-form team.
And while an erratic Liverpool are just as capable of beating Manchester City as they are of losing to Nottingham Forest right now, the European Cup has provided refuge and a platform for more consistent results and performances to be built.
Crucially, it also eases the pressure of a potential must-win when one of the tournament’s most in-form sides visit Anfield next week in Luciano Spalletti's Napoli; a team Liverpool will fortunately be spared of when the first round of the two-legged ties are drawn.
As expected, Darwin Nunez, Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold returned to the side that suffered that dismal defeat at Forest at the weekend.
A fairly tepid opening half hour or so was punctuated by two big chances at either end for the hosts. After Steven Berghuis had struck the post in the fledgling minutes, Dusan Tadic was then denied by a crucial Alexander-Arnold block.
But after yet another sluggish start to a game of football, Liverpool started to exert themselves, slowly. Their first real bit of quality of the match brought the opener when Henderson's clever cross was hooked home by Mohamed Salah with minimal fuss.
A second was on a plate for Nunez moments later after a razor-sharp move involving Andy Robertson and Roberto Firmino, but somehow the Uruguay international could only find the post with the goal gaping from six yards out.
Less than five minutes into the restart, Nunez had made up for his aberration with a snapshot of just what makes this relatively new arrival such a compelling and at times complex footballer.
Liverpool were only granted the corner Nunez scored from after his left-footed cross towards Salah had been horribly skewed towards goal to force Remko Pasveer into a save. But from the resulting set-piece, the former Benfica man rose highest to register his sixth Reds goal and make it 2-0.
In the course of a 90-minute game, it was a remarkably brief few seconds of play that perfectly encapsulated the enigma that is Nunez. An alert piece of defending a few minutes later when he somehow popped up as a makeshift centre-back also added weight to the theory. At 23 he will eventually become a top star at Anfield and it will be appointment viewing as he goes about it. His race was run just after the hour mark, replaced by Curtis Jones to a hearty embrace from Klopp.
Before that, Harvey Elliott had registered his second Champions League in as many games with an excellent finish into the roof of Pasveer's net after a great threaded pass from Salah.
Henderson, Fabinho and Elliott made way for the final 20 minutes as James Milner, Fabio Carvalho and Stefan Bajcetic all came on before Kostas Tsimikas joined proceedings in the final throes for Andy Robertson.
The final whistle confirmed what had been known since the quick-fire, second-half double. Next week's visit from Napoli has now become the most welcome of dead-rubbers for Klopp as he aims to keep his key men fit and healthy.
There is the potential to top Group A, but that would mean bettering the 4-1 defeat they suffered in Naples when the Italians visit Anfield next Tuesday. With such a paucity of options just now, one suspects that will be improbable.
The wider question now is just where this team are at present? Capable of superbly shackling City before turning in an abysmal display at the league's bottom team less than a week later; such fluctuations make it difficult to gauge an accurate reading.
Quite how this relatively comfortable triumph fits into the equation is open to suggestion: Ajax were full of effort but short on the sort of real Champions League quality that will now await Liverpool next year.
A convincing end to this block of fixtures now before the World Cup will at least start to win over more of those who have started to question a lot of things surrounding this football club since early August.
Liverpool are not the busted flush some would have you believe, but neither are they the irresistible force of recent years either. Not just yet, anyway. For now they will perhaps sit somewhere in the middle of that sliding scale and by the time the last 16 kicks off in February, Klopp's team may just be a lot closer to the former. More performances on the road like this will help aid that.
READ NEXT
Box office Darwin Nunez shows class with two moments after ridiculous miss vs Ajax
FA release statement on Jordan Henderson and Gabriel investigation after Arsenal vs Liverpool
Liverpool 'aware of Wilfried Zaha situation' as new twist could see January sale
Jamie Carragher makes Jude Bellingham Liverpool claim and sends blunt Trent Alexander-Arnold message
Liverpool Women handed injury boost as Champions League winner closes in on return
