The contrast to a year ago could not be starker, the emotion more extreme.
Back then in this very week, Liverpool had lost, lamely, to their old foe and hated neighbours Everton, a fourth straight defeat at ‘fortress’ Anfield that threatened to demolish that legend forever.
Trophies seemed a lifetime away. A simple win would have been welcome. There were very real questions about the ‘end of an era’. Yet now, 12 months later, the number four has a very different meaning.
