As Liverpool know to their cost from their past, when eras end, it can be suddenly, almost without warning. A sense of permanence can give way to a feeling of decay. In 1990, few thought their 18th league title would be their last for three decades. Rewind a few months and a quadruple-chasing Liverpool were often branded the best team in Europe. Now Jurgen Klopp applied that description to Napoli.
Perhaps Liverpool can see their past selves in an unbeaten, all-conquering free-scoring side. But a few months have effected a swift change. They have suffered more defeats in the whole of last season. They have produced what Klopp himself deemed the worst performance of his seven-year reign in Naples. They have lost successive league matches to Nottingham Forest and Leeds, who kicked off in the bottom two, each with two points from their previous eight games. They have been outrun at times, a team that relied on its ferocious physicality looking old and tired. Their pressing game has broken down. Shifts in formation and personnel have worked for a game or two, before it has unravelled again.
