It will come as little comfort to Arne Slot that a sizeable number of Liverpool’s followers had already walked away by the time his side were down by three. They had seen enough and, most damningly, they had seen it all before.
Where and when will this tailspin end? And does Slot have the nous to correct it? Those are questions that are growing in volume around a title defence of ever-diminishing returns and recurring errors. Shambolic would barely do justice to the latest instalment.
The run now stands at six defeats in seven, but there are other data points to cover how the mighty have fallen so far and so fast.