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Liverpool could not have asked for a better start to its title defense. Arne Slot's side is just the third in Premier League history to be five points clear after five games — the last time that happened, the Reds were 18 points ahead of their nearest rival come the end of the campaign.
The Champions League has also got off to a promising start. Atletico Madrid is always a potential banana skin, and one Liverpool could ill-afford to slip on given some of the upcoming tests in Europe, but Slot's side found a way to win.
Yet that notion of finding a way has led to no small amount of criticism. Many have claimed that Liverpool's knack for late goals is unsustainable, after dramatic winners for Federico Chiesa, Rio Ngumoha, Dominik Szoboszlai, Mohamed Salah, and Virgil van Dijk already.
On one hand, some element of concern is not entirely without merit. Slot has admitted that his side has been letting opponents back into contests too readily, and it's true that Liverpool surely can't keep winning it in stoppage time all season.
But at the same time, Liverpool has come through an opening five games that was statistically the third-toughest in the division, behind only Manchester United and Arsenal. It has done so after a record-breaking summer in which numerous first-team players have been added, requiring a bedding-in period.
Ultimately, results were always going to be paramount during this tricky start. Now, as the fixture list begins to relent a little (albeit not much) and the additions begin to click, Liverpool could not be any better placed.
Gary Lineker has revealed his bafflement at the criticism being sent in Liverpool's direction. He has insisted that the late goals are not a cause for concern:
"It’s not a worry at all," Lineker asserted on The Rest is Football. "If you’re doing that when you’re not absolutely flying and you’ve won five out of five, then I don’t understand why people are saying that this is an issue for them.
"I think it’s a bonus because you’re also nurturing in new players and you’re working out your best team. Slot is trying to get the balance with different players.
"I think it’s a real positive, I can’t see any negative side to it. Obviously you want to go out all guns blazing, playing glorious football and winning 5-0, but we all know football’s not like that, it never is."
Not for the first time, Lineker finds himself as the voice of reason. Simple logic tells you that there is no downside to five wins out of five (or six out of six in all competitions).
If there are things to work on, then all the better. If this is what Slot can achieve with a team barely out of second gear, then the potential ceiling of the side he has assembled is mouth-watering.
After all, Isak is yet to even complete an hour for his new side. Widely regarded as among the very best strikers in the world, that will not hurt Liverpool's firepower.
As for the defense, Liverpool has the fourth-lowest expected goals conceded in the division. Interestingly, the only three sides with better numbers are Bournemouth, Arsenal, and Newcastle — all of whom the Reds found a way past.
If anything, the anomaly isn't that Liverpool keeps scoring these late goals — it's that it keeps needing them. Even with so much room to improve, Slot's side are consistently doing enough to win games, and it's essentially a statistical quirk that those winners are coming in such dramatic fashion.
So Lineker is completely right to say that Liverpool don't need to be worried. The performances will get even better, but a five-point margin at the top of the table is a pretty enviable foundation from which to build.
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