Liverpool fans saw it in the Premier League defeat at Brentford and in the FA Cup draw at home to Wolves. But Jamie Carragher saw it as far back as October.
Speaking after his former club went down 1-0 at Nottingham Forest, Carragher said: "This season has proved that they should have gone into the market for just what we might call good players because at this moment the midfield is just not functioning. And when you have a problem defensively and going forward, the first place you look at is the midfield.''
Since then the issue has become more glaringly obvious with Brentford and Wolves the latest sides to play through Liverpool with ease.
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Since winning the Champions League in 2019, the Reds have added just two midfielders to their squad in the shape of Thiago Alcantara and Arthur Melo. The latter was brought in, on loan from Juventus, on the final day of this summer's transfer window after captain Jordan Henderson suffered an injury. Arthur, however, has been restricted to just 13 minutes of competitive action since then after picking up an injury of his own.
To be fair to Klopp and Liverpool, it is clear they want Jude Bellingham. Just as it was clear they wanted Aurelien Tchouameni in the summer. Instead, the France international joined Real Madrid, and with the Reds seemingly prepared to wait for Bellingham, backed the options they had in the centre of the park.
That, now, appears to be a mistake. Liverpool currently sit seven points off the top four, having long dropped out of the title race, with only the FA Cup - possibly, if they beat Wolves in their third-round replay - and the Champions League offering salvation. But to achieve success in those competitions, the midfield, so ragged and overrun at times this season, needs to improve.
And it appears the only way it can improve is by bringing in reinforcements. One player who would improve it is Brighton's Moises Caicedo. The 21-year-old underlined his huge potential in the Seagulls' recent 4-1 victory at Liverpool's Merseyside rivals Everton.
Caicedo would add youth, energy and legs to Klopp's aging side. But the Ecuadorian is also supremely talented on the ball and intelligent with it. His 92% passing accuracy from 82 touches at Goodison Park proves that. He also won four duels and created three chances for Brighton.
The Reds are blessed to have a player like Thiago in their ranks. But you can't help but feel they aren't getting the best out of their Spanish maestro and signing someone of Caicedo's ilk would help Liverpool's No.6 tenfold.
One of the most alarming stats for the Reds this season is their drop off in running. They were ranked third in the Premier League for sprints last season. They now sit in lowly 16th. That is not usual for a Klopp Liverpool team.
Carragher spotted it all back in October. He said: "If you actually look at the Liverpool midfield against Nottingham Forest it wasn't the best, there were young players who if you have young players, you want one of them to play alongside one with experience, you don't want them to all play together at once.
''It was still a poor performance, a poor result but I felt Liverpool feel as though they can just get through another season in midfield because they missed out on Jude Bellingham and [Aurelien] Tchouameni who went to Real Madrid."
The Reds may well land Bellingham and his arrival at Anfield could have a similar impact to that of Virgil van Dijk, who helped transform Klopp's side into trophy winners at home and abroad, and who proved it is the right policy to wait to sign your main transfer target. But with the likes of Madrid and Manchester City also likely to be in the running for Bellingham, there can be no guarantee that the Borussia Dortmund and England star chooses Liverpool.
That's why the Reds cannot afford not to act in the January transfer window. They are paying the price for deciding not to do that in the summer. Hopefully they have learned from that error and will not repeat it this month.
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