Liverpool v Atalanta: Virgil van Dijk injury proving Jurgen Klopp is no chequebook manager

Jurgen Klopp bristled.

"When do we have time to do extra work? Thank god we have a pretty smart team, the work happens in a meeting room. It's funny you ask us about defensive struggles – Villa, yes, we lost. Before that we didn't defend bad. We know how to defend."

It should have fallen apart in October. The unavoidably humiliating 7-2 defeat to Aston Villa signalled an imminent collapse of the Premier League champions. Not only was this team beatable, but utterly destroyable.

Then Virgil van Dijk was ruled out for several months with serious knee ligament damage. A defence that was creaking had lost its most valuable asset. Their title defence already looked over and their Champions League rivals were watching with glee.

The Reds clawed back morale with hard-fought wins over Ajax, Sheffield United, Midtjylland and West Ham, but the trip to Atalanta in the Champions League at the start of November presented a different test. The Italians, free-scoring spirits from the previous season under revolutionary manager Gian Piero Gasperini, were intent on ripping Liverpool open once more. They lined up in a 3-4-1-2. Rhys Williams, a 19-year-old from Preston, was tasked with filling Van Dijk’s shoes.

Atalanta finished last season on 98 goals in Serie A – a total that would have surely hit three figures had they not eased off to focus on their European showdown with PSG in Lisbon. They had imploded against the French side, throwing away a 1-0 lead in the 90th minute to lose 2-1 in normal time, and this match against England’s finest was their shot of proving they belonged on the biggest stage.

A little over two hours later, Liverpool were toasting a 5-0 win. Not only were they ruthless in front of goal, with Diogo Jota grabbing a hat-trick to emerge as a contender for signing of the summer, but the fabled Atalanta attack were subdued. This was a statement win built on solid foundations.

“It was humbling,” says Eurosport Italy’s Simone Eterno. “It’s OK to always play by believing in your philosophy, but sometimes you need also to face reality: Liverpool are a stronger team than you.”

But the questions about Liverpool’s defence have not gone away, especially now Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez have been added to the injury list. Yet they continue to march on unfazed, most recently following up a credible 1-1 draw against Manchester City with a 3-0 win over supposed title contenders Leicester City.

And it has left many scratching their heads. How can a defence that was so average before Van Dijk arrived, now be so reliable in his absence?

The romanticism that surrounded Klopp’s Liverpool vanished when they signed Allison Becker for £67m and Van Dijk for £75m. Here was just another chequebook manager buying success, not content to solve from within.

But that only told half the story. It’s easy to forget that Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino were good, but not great, when they arrived. Alexander-Arnold was an untested prodigy, Andrew Robertson and Gini Wijnaldum were relegation fodder and Jordan Henderson ran from his knees.

Klopp has helped elevate a whole squad to new heights, each buying into the philosophy. One defeat against Villa – which featured stand-in stopper Adrian having a nightmare and a flurry of freak deflected goals – doesn’t change that. It's taken the absence of Van Dijk to prove that Klopp’s genius has extended to the defence.

So back to Atalanta and another opportunity for Liverpool to remind people that the result at Villa Park did not make them a bad team overnight. Fabinho and Joel Matip will likely form a makeshift defence, having seen out the win over Leicester together. The exciting wing-back Robin Gosens will return to the Atalanta side, presenting Liverpool a new challenge, but as Eterno says: "Nobody will worry Klopp.

"He showed pretty well that he did his homework before the first leg. Gasperini will set up his team to attack because that’s the only way they play and because is they think it’s the right way to do, especially considering what they reached last season by doing this."

Liverpool are unlikely to find life as easy as the first leg. And that's no bad thing. Survive a sterner examination and Klopp may finally be given a night off from fielding questions about his backline.