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In recent weeks and months, the Anfield crowd has become increasingly passive; those in the crowd becoming a mirror of the team on the pitch.
The relentless, high-octane football of Liverpool's previous era has long gone, and in its place, a slower, often this season laboured, style of play has been the offering from Arne Slot’s side.
Slot’s desire for controlled football and the resulting atmosphere from such a different style to his predecessor, and thus what both those in the stands and those on the pitch are used to, was even pointed to after the Dutchman’s very first home game in charge.
At the time, Slot said he didn’t think it was an issue. “My way of doing things is to let the team play in the best possible way and they enjoy the team playing and in that way they will hopefully admire,” he said in his first month in charge in 2024.
Back then, Jamie Carragher described a strange atmosphere, with less of an end-to-end match, to which Slot said: “Normally, at most clubs - you know better than me if Liverpool is an exception to this - but normally it starts off with the players putting in a lot of work rate and being real intense and then the fans go behind it.
“Sometimes you see it the opposite way, that it starts with the fans and then the players come. How is that at Liverpool in your opinion?”
Given that Slot and several Liverpool players had invoked the need for supporters to back the team ahead of their last-16 Champions League tie, maybe there’s a realisation from the Dutchman that the players need the crowd more than he had initially asserted.
But after the draw, which very much felt like a defeat, against Tottenham three days ago, much discussion revolved around both supporters leaving early and large sections booing at full-time.
“I’m 100 per cent sure that our fans will be like they always are, especially on European nights,” Slot said in his pre-Galatasaray press conference.
With no away fans in attendance at Anfield on Wednesday night, you could have been forgiven for thinking it might be quite a flat atmosphere.
But that isn’t the Liverpool way, not, especially, on a Champions League night when the team needed a turnaround. The crowd were strong in their backing from before kick off, and when they saw attacking football on the pitch - Liverpool seemingly more direct than recent times - they kept that energy going.
Thus, the players fed off the crowd and the symbiotic relationship showed. The crowd need attacking football and the players on the pitch need energy in the stands. It’s what they’re both used to, too.
That is very much The Liverpool Way.
This was like watching a Liverpool game from the era before Slot; high energy, pressing, forcing mistakes, getting the crowd going, having Mo Salah more involved, and thus creating a five-minute spell that saw three goals scored - albeit one that was disallowed.
Fans watching in the stands enjoyed it, but could also be forgiven for wondering where this performance was three days ago. What had changed in the two days between these two games? Had Slot told them to imagine Jurgen Klopp was in charge?
Perhaps that’s harsh, and the quality and type of opposition must be taken into account here. But this was certainly more Klopp-like Liverpool than Slot-like.
Fans too, were encouraged to see the team go for more goals after going ahead, rather than sitting back and inviting the opposition, as was certainly the case against Tottenham three days earlier.
Liverpool lined up with the team in a shape and style that most supporters have been screaming for all season.
Salah played a lot closer to the goal and centrally, rather than hugging the touchline as he has in recent weeks.
The Egyptian scored a stunner, laid on a superb assist, missed a penalty, smashed the crossbar, created two big chances, had six shots on target, took seven shots and had 13 touches in the opposition’s box.
On the other side of the attack, Florian Wirtz was deployed in the floating left side role, creating the most chances by a Liverpool player in a Champions League match since Opta records began.
It is the role the German is most accustomed to and the one where most supporters would prefer him to play - for three reasons. Firstly, Wirtz looks most at home there. Second, it allows Dominik Szoboslai to play his best and most influential role centrally behind the striker, and thirdly, because Cody Gakpo has proven extremely frustrating on the left wing.
What was also evident was how the full-backs, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, provided the width, thus allowing Salah and Wirtz to move inside and be involved more centrally - where they are both most effective.
The team played with intensity, with fluidity, with purpose and - something that has been lacking for long parts of this season - an identity that looked like a Liverpool team.
How long will it continue for? Is this the new direction or another false dawn in a season of them.
It’s back to the Premier League for now, but then it’s PSG in the quarter final - an opponent and match up that Slot has repeatedly praised over the year since the French side knocked Liverpool out in the last-16 last season.
It will be a tougher test than Galatasaray provided. Slot and Liverpool will need the crowd involved. They can do that by providing the crowd intensity from the off.
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