Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez were all out for the rest of the season through injury.
Of Liverpool 's defensive spine, goalkeeper Alisson was the only man still standing.
But it would be a calamitous error from the Brazilian which allowed Leicester City to take the lead just a few minutes after levelling the scores at the King Power Stadium, a defeat which left the Reds on the cusp of a crisis.
A somewhat battered and bruised Liverpool team had managed to take the lead against the Foxes, with Mohamed Salah producing the goods one year ago this weekend – as he has so often done throughout his career on Merseyside.
But then James Maddison found the back of the net with his free-kick, and just three minutes later Alisson smashed into debutant defender Ozan Kabak to leave Jamie Vardy with the easiest goal he'll ever score.
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When Harvey Barnes made it 3-1 with five minutes to go, it seemed inevitable that the wheels were going to come off completely for this Liverpool team.
After all, they were now six points behind the side who had just beaten them, who moved up to second place with this result, while Manchester City extended their lead over Liverpool to 13 points with a routine victory over Tottenham Hotspur on the same day.
Jurgen Klopp 's team was sliding down the table, and how on earth was he going to reverse that trend with inexperienced loanee Kabak, youngsters Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams and midfielder Jordan Henderson as his only options in the heart of defence?
It seemed an impossible job but, of course, somehow he did it – with a big slice of assistance from Alisson who atoned for that error and a few others with his incredible header against West Brom later in the season.
Liverpool managed a top-four finish to ensure the club kept Champions League football, laying the groundwork for a return to more familiar form and the additions of Ibrahima Konate and Luis Diaz this season.
But all that looked a long way off at this stage, on the back of a confusing transfer window in which, despite the apparent need for strong reinforcements, saw only a loan move for Kabak and the signing of Ben Davies – who never played for the club.
Indeed, defeat at Leicester saw Klopp concede the title to City, who had won their 16th consecutive game earlier the same day.
"I don’t think we can close the gap," he said. "We are not worrying about the title, we are not silly."
It's a situation which couldn't be much further removed from the one Liverpool are in today, one year on.
Instead of a disappointing collapse against Leicester, the Reds got the job done on Thursday evening with a dominant performance, two goals from Diogo Jota and a clean sheet.
Instead of an excruciating slide, Liverpool are on a strong run of form in the Premier League, have a perfect Champions League record, are in the final of one domestic cup and are still in the other.
Instead of several key players being absent with long-term injury concerns, Klopp has a full, fit and firing squad at his disposal.
Instead of a transfer window in which no problems were truly solved, the Reds have added another exciting attacking option in Diaz while the signs remain encouraging about the further addition of exciting Fulham prospect Fabio Carvalho.
Most importantly, instead of being cut adrift with no hope of coming out of the season with anything to show for it, Liverpool are in a position where fans can still believe a title push might still be on – while the prospect of other trophies remains strong.
And while Klopp is still saying publicly that his side are unlikely to catch Man City at the top of the table, privately there must be confidence that the Reds have what it takes to push Guardiola's men all the way.
What a difference a year does make.
