The coronation is complete, the ribbons are red and the glinting silverware of the English top flight is back where it belongs. Liverpool have been better than the rest all season, and today’s title-lifting curtain call was a gentle reminder of change on the horizon.
Liverpool 1-1 Crystal Palace
Premier League (38) | Anfield
May 25, 2025
Goals: Sarr 9′, Salah 84′
Gravenberch sent off 98′
1. The cathartic feeling of Champions
How do you heal a broken heart? That’s the big question isn’t it. The title win of 2019-20 was so incomprehensibly brilliant as Jurgen Klopp‘s lads surged to the title at record-setting pace and had proceedings wrapped up all but as the stadiums officially closed for the Covid-19 regulations, and the euphoria that spilled out conjured feelings and emotions that will last a lifetime.
But, aside the mass gatherings outside Anfield as the Reds of yesteryear were crowned champions, we never had this moment. This full stadium, red and reverberating and cranked to party atmosphere from the get-go.
The heart wasn’t broken after being denied the true title coronation proceedings, but it’s certainly been lacking something all these years. Not any longer. England’s most successful football club has now been able to do everything the right way and, importantly, in their own way.
2. Anfield welcomes royalty
Anfield today was a like a pantheon of the greats, a hall-of-fame gathering of royalty spanning the eras. The current crop of superstars on the pitch and the legends of various eras dotted throughout the main stand. Kenny Dalglish, Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, Jurgen Klopp – all under one roof and watching on, rosy-eyed and brimming with adoration.
Seeing Klopp back on Merseyside and beaming down like a proud father was one that hit firmly in the feels, but also a poignant reminder of both how far the club has come and how quickly football moves.
Only 12 months ago we were here saying farewell to the great man, as he assured the uncertain and emotional Kop that Arne Slot was the man that could ensure a continuation of greatness; how right he was.
But seeing these various storied faces was an illustration that Liverpool are morphing as a team. The Klopp era, as transformative as it was – akin to Bill Shankly – is now over, and the Slot fingerprints over how this team function are all too apparent.
Perhaps it’s the calm and measured tactical nuance of Slotball which has seen Liverpool falter since being confirmed champions. The razor sharp levels of concentration required to carefully dissect opposition hasn’t – understandably – been there, and the Reds have suffered as a result.
Sure, it’s nothing to fret over and certainly nothing anyone cares about right now – the Reds are back on their perch. But it was a holding up of the mirror to show how things are done differently these days.
3. The whip will be cracked
Virgil van Dijk has been on cloud 9 like everyone in recent weeks, but he wasn’t always content today.
The captain, leader and standard-setter isn’t best pleased with how Liverpool have become porous in recent weeks, allowing visitors to feast on scrappy chances and take reward from situation in which nothing should be on offer.
Barking at team-mates, gesturing wildly with arms outstretched and roaring himself hoarse, Van Dijk wasn’t playing like a footballer already on the beach today. Curtis Jones found himself the unfortunate recipient of the Dutchman’s ire on repeated occasions.
Make no mistake about it, once the dust has settled and the final strings of confetti have been swept away, the whip will be cracked.
Liverpool’s 20th title win may be joyous and historic, but the club sit firmly at the top table of Europe’s elite and standing still isn’t an option. New faces will soon filter in and these final few games of the season will be referenced back upon as a case study on how mistakes can – and must – be avoided.
4. The Trent sideshow ends amicably
Today was never about Trent Alexander-Arnold, but Liverpool’s departing homegrown hero was always going to be a point of discussion.
While many assumed he would not feature during the afternoon’s play, Slot had other ideas and thrust him straight into the action from half-time – arriving as a solo substitution.
It was a bold call, given it denied the opportunity to hide Trent among a huddle of oncoming subs in the latter stages, but the Liverpool boss knew immediate change and fresh impetus was required, and Trent stepped up to the call.
Following Klopp’s unexpected address in midweek in which he berated the reaction of the Kop to the soon-to-be Real Madrid man, Anfield afforded Trent a much softer return to familiar surroundings, and in turn he put on a solid display.
The truce will certainly not be extended should Madrid arrive at Anfield in next season’s Champions League, but the Alexander-Arnold sideshow, as minor as it may have been, is now over.
5. Change is coming
Liverpool are strengthening from the best possible position this summer, and whispers of already done deals are aplenty. But things really will begin to change rapidly from here on out.
Today we saw the likes of Trent and Darwin Nunez for the last time, perhaps even Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz. The futures of Wataru Endo and the likes of Jarrell Quansah and Harvey Elliott likewise remain up in the air.
Time waits for no man and in the world of football the finger is always on the pulse. Enjoy these moments and appreciate these lads while they’re here and remember everything they’ve done.
Momentum is fully on the turn now. Slot is a Premier League champion and now a summer in which he can really start to map out a dynasty of his own beckons.
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