Liverpool's relentless pursuit of Manchester City over the past few seasons has taken its toll on their players, according to Ian Wright.
The Reds were a week away from completing an historic quadruple of silverware last season, after producing a season of the very highest-performance levels that ultimately returned two domestic cup trophies. But it has been a completely different story this campaign with Jurgen Klopp's side currently languishing in ninth position in the Premier League table and out of the Carabao Cup.
On Saturday, Liverpool were given an absolute hiding by up-and-coming Brighton on the south coast, which left their German manager struggling to offer up an explanation. But Match of the Day pundit Wright believes that the alarming drop-off in form may have been a long time coming.
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Speaking on the BBC's popular highlights programme on Saturday evening, Arsenal legend Wright said: "We're talking about a Liverpool side that was unbelievable in terms of the pressing up front and the midfield backing up, then they're winning the ball high. When we look at how far they are off people, you feel like they're not getting close enough. I feel like it's very tough for them.
"Those seasons chasing City down, I think that has taken its toll. Especially still trying to play the high line when you aren't getting midfielders close enough to other midfielders to stop them from playing that ball over the top or playing that ball through the lines. It just seems like it's very easy to get through at the minute."
Regardless of whether he agreed with Wright's assessment or not, Klopp accepted that the performance against Brighton had been completely unacceptable, labelling it the worst that he could remember, not just at Anfield, but in his managerial career.
Speaking to Match of the Day, Klopp said: "I can't remember a worse game. It's not difficult maybe. Brighton were the better team, it was well deserved. They played really well. It was a very organised team against a not very organised team.
"We gave the ball away, the spaces were too big and we couldn't push up. That is obviously not good, especially against a super well-drilled side like Brighton. They got more confident and we did the opposite. I can imagine they are very happy because it was a great performance and we made it too easy in too many moments. I had an idea to change the formation, which was to try and help the team. That was the idea.
"But we never did it properly. We were always a bit in between and that's the worst thing you can do. We could have done better but we didn't and that's why it looked the way it did. We need to be creative with the options we have. What I saw today from my team was that they were not really convinced by it. That's it."
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