How Liverpool must wish they could turn the clocks back a lot further than just an hour this evening.
Never has the quadruple-chasing thrill ride of last term seemed so far, far away for Jurgen Klopp and his players after a troubling season slumped to a new, shocking low.
Defeat to Leeds United, a team in the relegation zone and who had been kept off the bottom only by goal difference, was bad enough.
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That it came at Anfield – a first Premier League loss in front of supporters since April 2017, a first top-flight home reverse in 71 games for skipper Virgil van Dijk – compounded the hurt.
But the manner of this pathetic setback will cause the greatest alarm, Liverpool appearing clueless for the most part while offering two gift-wrapped goals for the visitors at either end of the match.
Too many players, as has been the case for much of the season, were way off their best. There was a lack of imagination, intensity and, during the closing stages, a worrying absence of belief.
Klopp, though, must take his share of the blame for his calamitous defeat. The diamond midfield which earned Champions League victory at Ajax in midweek simply didn’t work here. Nor did any change the Reds boss sought to make. Undoubted half-time words fell on deaf ears, a brief period of pressure unable to disguise a hugely underwhelming, disjointed, almost disillusioned second-half performance in which Liverpool never once appeared to have a semblance of control. The substitutions did nothing to alter that pattern.
Leeds are not a good side. The table tells us as much. They were tonked 6-0 at Anfield back in February and their boss Jesse Marsch remains teetering on the precipice, even if this famous win has perhaps earned him some breathing space. But just like Nottingham Forest last week, Liverpool were far too charitable to a struggling side. It is simply too easy to gain a result against the Reds at present.
Yes, Klopp's side had more shots on goal, more efforts on target, more corners and almost 70% possession.
Nobody, though, could make a real case for them having done enough to claim a victory – leaving them open to the devastating blow Leeds landed in the closing moments to secure their first win at Anfield in 21 years.
The visitors enjoyed turning the clock back in that respect. Liverpool, though, are in danger of allowing time to stand still in the Premier League. This was a truly awful night.
