Irrespective of the result, the narrative of this game was always going to be framed around Chelsea's progress or lack of. A win would have been a statement of intent. A defeat would prove how far Frank Lampard's team must come to be considered genuine title contenders.
Right? Wrong.
That was always going to be an overly simplistic line of summary considering the absentees in the hosts’ starting XI, nevermind the fact it is so early in a season where almost all the customary methods of preparation were abandoned.
As a consequence of injuries it will not be until after the next international break - if not longer - that we get a proper look at Lampard’s Chelsea v2.0.
Christmas will be the time to make definitive evaluations of the evolution.
Instead this was an afternoon in which only two new faces played - one of them sacrificed at the interval, the other working tirelessly - and the issues that made last season uncomfortable were again plain for all to see.
Taking the game as a solitary event, stripping it of all wider context, it had been evenly-matched up to the point Andreas Christensen was sent off, with the help of a VAR monitor check, for dragging down Sadio Mane. Chelsea were impressive on the break and defended well, even looking assured from set pieces.
But it was the right call to dismiss Christensen. Chelsea’s opportunity to build momentum was crushed and the second half became a slog, partially down to those familiar failings.
To put it simply: as long as Kepa remains between the posts, Lampard’s team will be also rans in the quest for major honours. Luckily the deal to sign Edouard Mendy from Rennes will be announced in the next few days once he passes a medical, even if Lampard is remaining tight-lipped. Better late than never.
With an extra man Liverpool were clearly the better team, more cohesive and confident. But they were also playing a Chelsea side containing several players who will be imminently displaced by upgrades.
Add Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell, Hakim Ziyech, bring Christian Pulisic back in to the reckoning and you suddenly have a far more daunting opponent. Again, let's not read too much into this result as tempting as it may be but it does show the need for some of those new faces to hit the ground running.
Also, a footnote. For all the pre-match chatter around big spending it was worth noting that Liverpool’s starting XI cost £387million, a chunk more than Chelsea’s £348million with the champions having extra £20million of fees on the bench.
Framing this as the analytics-driven, smart investing visitor beating the big spending hosts is wildly misplaced.
