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Liverpool received a welcome boost over the international break, with Conor Bradley returning for Northern Ireland and playing almost 80 minutes. The full-back was only fit enough for the bench against Arsenal, where he watched Dominik Szoboszlai put in an out-of-position masterclass.
That might have left Bradley fearing for his route into the team, just weeks after he was poised to be given the chance to start the season as first choice. Injury meant new signing Jeremie Frimpong got the nod from the start of the campaign instead, before the Dutchman also picked up an injury, forcing Arne Slot to get creative.
After the break, Slot will be spoiled for choice again, provided there are no international injury scares. Travel plans conspired to get Alexis Mac Allister some extra rest, but Liverpool will be monitoring various other situations closely, including Alexander Isak's potential first minutes since last season.
Next up for Bradley is an engagement against Germany. Julian Nagelsmann's side just lost an away World Cup qualifier for the very first time, and will be very keen to get things back on track at home after a nightmare start to the campaign against Slovakia.
A group that also contains Luxembourg should realistically prove no issue for the 2014 World Cup winners, despite the rocky opening. But after Thomas Muller's international retirement last summer, Manuel Neuer is the last remaining survivor from that victorious side, with Nagelsmann charged with bringing through the next wave of talent.
That, of course, includes Florian Wirtz. The playmaker was widely considered the Bundesliga's top talent before Liverpool snapped him up this summer.
And Bradley has joked that he will have to ask a favor from his new teammate before he faces him on the international stage. He has also lifted the lid on some light-hearted exchanges before the players departed the Liverpool camp.
"A few jokes before we came away, but no WhatsApps yet,” Bradley told BBC NI. "Maybe I’ll have to get into him tomorrow and tell him to take it easy on us.
"He's an unbelievable player. I've seen that from the few weeks we've had together in pre-season, and we'll have to keep him quiet Sunday night."
This vote of confidence in Wirtz's quality comes at a welcome time. The Liverpool star was not spared by national media after the Slovakia defeat, while his start at Anfield has not been as explosive as some had hoped.
Obviously, any such assessments are far too hasty. Wirtz is getting used to a new league, and has probably had three of the toughest possible assignments in the circumstances.
First up was Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth, a notoriously intense team that gives you no time whatsoever on the ball. Then it was Newcastle, fired up from the Isak saga and determined to suffocate Slot's midifeld.
Most recently, it was Arsenal, last season's runner-up and another proponent of intense man-to-man pressure. Wirtz actually started to take this latter contest by the scruff of the neck in the second half, although the intensity of the league caught up to him as he was forced off with severe cramp.
Once he returns from international duty, the fixture list at least temporarily relents (on paper, anyway). He will have earmarked the match against Burnley as a chance to make a real impression.
But first up is the encounter with Bradley's Northern Ireland — where if Nagelsmann keeps the same system, the pair might be going directly up against each other. It might be Slot who ends up calling in the favors, making sure his full-back takes it easy on his trademark crunching tackles!
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