Jurgen Klopp arrived in the Premier League in early October amid great fanfare and a wave of expectation. It would be foolish to pass judgement on him this early — he has had almost no chance to bring in his own players and shape his squad, while this season has been ludicrously turbulent throughout the league — but we can already see signs of how things are changing at Liverpool.

On the whole, their season so far has not been an impressive one, but it has been punctuated by moments of brilliance. This hints that the magic Klopp produced in his peak days with Dortmund, whose energy and skill could devastate even the best teams, is being woven into the fabric at Anfield, even if it is often far from visible.

The highlights of their season so far have undoubtedly been the blitzkrieg wins at Stamford Bridge and the Etihad, where his side racked up an aggregate score of 7-2 over Chelsea and Manchester City. But the result, sandwiched between those two, is equally telling of how the season has gone: a 2-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace.

Unfortunately for Anfield regulars, that result cannot be written off as a freak outlier and the insipid performance that day was matched by further rank showings against Newcastle, West Ham and Manchester United.

It is this inconsistency which has undermined their league campaign and almost certainly written off their hopes of a top-four finish this season, but it is also indicative of progress. The first few games of the Klopp era formed the tail end of a run of 13 games, in which they drew nine times. They played turgid football at that time as Brendan Rodgers’ reign fizzled out, swathed in mediocrity and apparent indifference.

The way they have veered uncontrollably from woeful to wonderful ever since has, in the short term, been no more useful than the days they spent anchored to the middle ground; it’s no good racking up spectacular wins to then just toss points away which should be won with relative ease. You might as well draw every game.

However, the Klopp project is a long-term one. He was never going to lead them to the title this season, but instead sought to build and grow. The high points, therefore, provide cause for optimism regarding the future, showing what can be done. By ironing out the dips in between, Liverpool can become a major force again, but that will take a little time.

It is clear that Klopp has not been entirely happy with the squad he inherited from Rodgers. Christian Benteke was an odd signing this summer, someone who was available rather than someone specifically chosen to fit into the way the team wanted to play and Klopp seems particularly bemused with the Belgian, unsure of exactly what to use him for.

Benteke could leave this coming summer, while Adam Lallana looks another big money player whose days are similarly numbered. We can expect them to be replaced with more mobile, energetic attacking players, such as their prime January target Alex Teixeira.

The defence also needs a lot of work. It was interesting to hear Klopp discuss the recent loan signing of Stephen Caulker, citing the England international’s aerial ability as key.

“We want to press the opponent and so they have to play long balls,” he explained. Of Liverpool’s current centre backs, only really Martin Skrtel stand out in the air, so there could be some significant changes in personnel at the back too.

Having pulled off a major coup in securing one of the game’s most sought-after managers, the Liverpool board will not jump to any rash decisions regarding his future. Only after he’s had a couple of transfer windows and a decent length of time in charge should any judgements be considered. By the end of next season we might be starting to see how far Klopp can take this team. At this point, there is still plenty of reasons for Liverpool to be excited.