Liverpool players warm up ahead of the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Southampton
As per Arne Slot's wish, Anfield Stadium filled up long before kick-off against Southampton
Liverpool have established such a commanding position in the competitions in which they remain that there are some glamorous occasions lined up in the extremely near future. Six more wins to clinch the Premier League title, holding an advantage to reach the Champions League quarter finals and a Carabao Cup final against Newcastle United in exactly seven days.
Yet Arne Slot's message building up to Saturday's match against Southampton was loud and clear - do not by any means underestimate the importance. To be accurate, on Friday the Dutchman said: "We are in a good place but we have three finals to play in a week and after this one we have only three days in between.
"It is a week to look forward to for every Liverpool fan and I know the final is there and everyone is already talking to me about how the atmosphere will be on a Champions League night but truly I hope our fans will be at their loudest tomorrow, not for a final or PSG.
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"I hope they will not come into the stadium five minutes before the kick-off, I'm hoping the stadium is already filled half an hour before kick-off so these players get the reward for what they did in Paris for working so hard.
"They have great songs: sometimes when I look at social media I see these songs they do for Lucho (Luis Diaz), Virgil (van Dijk) or Macca (Alexis Mac Allister) and they are really creative with these songs. Let's hear them tomorrow - although I am in the stands (because of a touchline suspension)."
As a Liverpool supporter it was the sort of message from the boss you cannot ignore, so earlier than usual for myself at exactly 2:30pm I scanned my NFC pass to get through the turnstiles and headed into the Upper Anfield Road.
It was lively on the concourse and many more had already taken their seats on the new stand, so clearly the message was received far and wide. The same could be said for the other three sides of Anfield, basking in the spring sunshine, looking fuller than usual that far ahead of kick-off.
The customary chorus of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' felt passionate, in between renditions of 'The Fields of Anfield Road', 'A Liverbird Upon My Chest' and 'Oh Campione'.
Fenway Sports Group shelled out £80m to have the entire Anfield Road stand redeveloped, finished part-way through last season. It increased the overall capacity of the stadium from 54,074 to 61,276 spectators but most clinically turned a near-30-year-old, small and crammed stand into one of the most complete in English football, both in terms of facilities for match-goers and for what it would add to the ambience of the venue.
"Throughout the design process careful consideration has once again been given to Anfield’s world class atmosphere through the development of an acoustic and lighting strategy to match that of the one developed with the Main Stand," is the official wording from Liverpool's website.
5,200 of the 7,000 seats roughly added have been committed to general admission tickets and a large portion of those are used for supporters successful in gaining tickets through local membership sales and ballots, thus gathering some of the most loyal followers of the Reds - aside from those in The Kop opposite - in a state-of-the-art boombox that channels and directs all noise directly towards the pitch below.
It may be a stretch to say that sitting up here is as good as standing on The Kop, but it is certainly the second-hottest ticket in town ahead of in the Main Stand or Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand.
What was a shame was the fact that the first-half performance did not match the commitment of supporters to Slot's pre-match demand. An atmosphere was certainly generated to begin with but as the minutes went by it gradually quietened until that Will Smallbone goal on the stroke of half-time brought about an air of silence.
Thankfully, the head coach had choice words for his players and after that they picked up for the second period. The 10 minutes between the restart and Mohamed Salah's first penalty of the afternoon completing the turnaround - I don't think we've heard a more raucous Anfield since Real Madrid were sent back to Spain with their tails between their legs last November.
The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to singing 'A Liverbird Upon My Chest', 'Now You're Gonna Believe Us' and the rest that express utmost confidence in this team beating Arsenal and everyone else to the Premier League title.
My overriding takeaway from the match was that Slot's demand was exactly what was needed - he knows just as much, as complacency isn't acceptable from the 25 in his squad. It also needs rooting out from the 61,000 in attendance for a match that otherwise would have seemed a straightforward one against rock-bottom Southampton.
Once again he proves himself the perfect man to lead this club into the future and there is such a feel-good atmosphere around Liverpool right now, the only thing that is needed to complete the season are the multiple honours deserved.