Two minutes have gone at Anfield and Norwich City are trying to play out from the back. Sam Allardyce is out there somewhere and his eyes are already narrowing. Steam is coming out of his ears as Grant Hanley shanks into his own net in the seventh minute and that vein on his head is throbbing furiously as Norwich continue to attack against the European champions. By the time an unmarked Divock Origi heads Liverpool into a 4-0 lead in the 42nd minute Allardyce has exploded. There are pieces of Big Sam everywhere. Oh, what a mess.

Fortunately Allardyce is pieced back together in time to take the airwaves and pat managerial novice Frank Lampard on the head as his Chelsea side lose 4-0 to Manchester United. As José Mourinho points out on television, Lampard is guilty of vast naivety. Mourinho’s former midfielder has told Chelsea to be expansive and it has ended in disaster. The elders are withering in their disapproval. On the radio Allardyce is criticising Chelsea’s tactical indiscipline and Mourinho, speaking from the comfort of a television studio, is aghast at how easy it has been for United.

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Mourinho’s disgust at what he has seen does not come as a surprise. After all his first Chelsea side conceded only 15 goals in the 2004-05 season and would never have dreamed of being so open in a difficult away game. Yet, although Lampard was a key figure in that stingy team, he does not want to emulate his old boss’s pragmatism. Unlike Mourinho he does not appear to regard philosophy as football’s dirtiest word.

At this point it is worth issuing a clarification: no, Allardyce did not explode during Liverpool’s 4-1 win over Norwich on Friday night. Yet it is not difficult to imagine how he would have reacted to the sight of Daniel Farke’s newly promoted side throwing caution to the wind against Jürgen Klopp’s red machine. This time last year Allardyce was blasting our “stupid” obsession with split centre-backs starting moves and he was at it again after England’s defeat by the Netherlands in the Nations League two months ago, suggesting that “there’s a brainwashing going on in terms of playing out from the back”.

But there was something admirable about the way Norwich set up against Liverpool. They did not blink under the Anfield lights and created plenty of chances during that chastening opening period. It was immediately obvious that they were going to lose but then it is unlikely they would have held out if they had merely sat back and Farke was happy his side won the second half 1-0. The German saw enough to think Norwich’s gung-ho spirit will cause problems for teams below Liverpool’s standard.

While reality might eventually force Norwich to tighten up, bravery was a theme of the Premier League’s opening weekend. The two other promoted sides, Sheffield United and Aston Villa, also gave good accounts of themselves on the road. There were glimpses of Chris Wilder’s overlapping centre-backs during United’s 1-1 draw at Bournemouth while Dean Smith’s Villa played on the front foot against Tottenham and could argue they were the better side until Mauricio Pochettino changed the game by introducing Christian Eriksen in the second half.

It is about trusting in the process, about believing that more is possible, and no manager epitomises that more than Graham Potter. His first Brighton side was comprised entirely of players from the Chris Hughton era but fears that Potter would struggle to mastermind a tactical revolution already look overblown after his new team’s 3-0 win over Watford at Vicarage Road.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest New Brighton & Hove Albion manager Graham Potter oversaw an impressive 3-0 victory at Watford in his first competitive match. Photograph: Matt Bunn/BPI/Shutterstock

The theory goes that Brighton do not have the players to make Potter’s style work. But what was the right move? When is the moment to innovate? Next year? In 2029? Never? The truth is it would have been bizarre not to attempt evolution when the real risk was the unimaginative choice of picking another manager like Hughton. Brighton were crying out for change by the end of last season, even though Hughton kept them up. The players wanted more freedom to express themselves and the club have found a gem in Potter judging by the Watford game. The former Östersunds manager put Hughton’s players into a 3-4-2-1, told them to attack and beamed as they dominated a tough side.

This is not meant as a criticism of the old ways. Nuance makes it possible to find Allardyce’s football boring but to respect him for the no-nonsense approach that made him a survival specialist. Yet he found it hard to transfer the skills that made Bolton such a tough proposition to clubs who fancied themselves a bit. Supporters of Everton, Newcastle and West Ham never took to him.

The same applies to Mourinho, a manager whose cautious football belongs to another time, whose spell at United ended because he was unable to adapt and let his players off the leash. His first instinct is to defend but the success of Pep Guardiola, Jürgen Klopp and Pochettino has reminded fans, players and owners of the beauty and appeal of attacking football, with goalkeepers acting as playmakers, defenders given licence to roam and attacking patterns coached to perfection.

It is the football that succeeds in the modern era. Mourinho might find it suspicious. He might think there are too many poets and philosophers managing in the Premier League these days. But he was the one sitting in a television studio on Sunday afternoon. Lampard was the one on the touchline.