Liverpool 3 Albion 3

With all questions answered, Roberto De Zerbi paused as he got up to leave his post-match press conference.

Then he delivered a parting message to the assembled reporters.

“I’m sorry for my English,” he told them – in English.

“The next time in Liverpool, I will be able to speak proper English.”

He presumably meant next time he goes to Anfield.

Albion are, of course, due back in Liverpool in January, to play Everton.

They will look to extend their unbeaten run on Merseyside to five matches and many of the reporters De Zerbi addressed on Saturday will be working at Goodison.

It will be interesting to see what progress he has made by then.

And how fluently his team are speaking De Zerbian on the pitch.

One suspects both will have made appreciable strides.

This was some way to start. Just a very good Premier League football match on a world famous stage in which Albion played the more attractive football and deserved at least a point.

Leandro Trossard set the ball rolling with two crisp finishes and, late on, completed the club’s first top-flight hat-trick for 42 years.

Just what was needed on what almost felt like the first day of a new season, given the 27-day break between fixtures and all that happened during it.

Feelings of excitement, optimism and even exhilaration are well-placed.

If De Zerbi gets it right, the change at the top - unplanned as it was - can work out brilliantly.

But, amid the wave of positivity over the new coach, it is important to remember a few things.

Lest it be forgotten, Albion played very good football before the managerial change.

They got results at Anfield and they had started to score plenty of goals.

They also had a hugely passionate and committed head coach on the touchline.

He did not show it as De Zerbi did to a degree on Saturday and no doubt will continue to do.

But he was starting to be a bit more outgoing in words and actions.

If Graham Potter were not passionate and protective of his team, he would not – for example – have taken exception to a smattering of mild booing.

He was passionate about the way he wanted to play the game, which is why he stuck with it steadfastly during some very lean periods.

In many ways, Albion have gone for continuity by appointing De Zerbi. But continuity with a twist.

That is the beauty of it.

They have a carefully crafted squad of players well capable of playing the football De Zerbi wants.

Now we wait to see how much will be changed both with what the new boss has inherited and what he might add in January.

The goal which put Albion 2-0 up was brilliantly fashioned by Solly March’s cushioned lay-off and dispatched by Trossard.

It was the sort of angled, hooked left-foot finish he had produced earlier in the game and recently at home to Leicester.

But it all started with Robert Sanchez playing the ball out very short and Liverpool being invited to press.

Was that, I asked, a taste of what we will seeing a lot?

De Zerbi replied: “I think today a lot of credit goes to Potter.

“He has left me a great team.

“I am just trying not to do any damage, adding my ideas.

“Then if you are asking me where and how I can improve the team, we can play much more with the ball, even in the Premier League, which is a very difficult league.

“We have shown today clearly that, when we are able to make four or five passes one after the other, even a team as strong as Liverpool were decreasing the intensity of their press.”

De Zerbi has a decent grasp of English, more so in understanding than speaking.

But it feels like he has so much more he wants to say.

So many more footballing ideas he wants to express to us and the wider public.

The limited English is a bit of a straitjacket on that score at the moment but it will ease, no doubt.

It appears the message has got across loud and clear to his players in a short period.

Players have had meetings with their boss and Trossard said training sessions had been “intense”.

The boss used the word “crack” to describe the Belgium international.

It is an English word but one the Italians and Spanish use in a way we don’t.

“A crack” is a star, a performer of exceptional level.

Exceptional footwork and clinical finishing saw him score twice after being teed up by Danny Welbeck, then March.

That opening period was stunning, Welbeck and Trossard seeing good chances go unrewarded thanks to Alisson’s saves as March caused chaos.

Robert Sanchez matched that with a block from Mo Salah as the Kop were already roaring for a goal.

Albion were a bit unlucky on the first Reds goal as Salah was just onside as he hooked the ball into Roberto Firmino’s path for a finish which was flagged offside but then approved by VAR.

Firmino has played more minutes than any other player under Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and he was dependable again as he stepped inside Dunk to level matters in the second half.

Albion had been exposed when March’s low cross was cut out in the Kop goalmouth with a 3-1 lead beckoning.

But, after a Trent Alexander-Arnold corner was missed by Sanchez and bounced in off Adam Webster to put the hosts in front, Albion regained their composure.

With Kaoru Mitoma lively down the left, they posed questions.

Alisson denied Welbeck before a move involving all ten outfield players saw Trossard level matters.

Albion went into the weekend with the best defensive record in the division (five goals against). Liverpool had the joint second best (six conceded).

Those records could have been further dented and it was captivating viewing.

It was structured, based on years of hard work and development.

It was also fun, freewheeling and fluent – with better to come.

Liverpool: Alisson: Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Tsimikas (Elliott 59); Henderson (Milner 59), Fabinho, Thiago (Nunez 89); Salah, Firmino (Jota 75), Carvalho (Diaz 46).

Subs unused: Adrian, Gomez, Phillips, Melo Goals: Firmino 33, 54, Webster OG 63 Yellow card: Alexander-Arnold (86)foul.

Albion: Sanchez: Veltman, Dunk, Webster; March, Caicedo, Mac Allister, Estupinan (Lallana 76); Gross (Mitoma 65), Welbeck, Trossard (Lamptey). Subs unused: Steele, Colwill, Sarmiento, Encisco, Undav, Gilmour Goals: Trossard 4, 17, 83.

Yellow card: Estupinan (30) time-wasting.