Liverpool were convincingly beaten by RC Strasbourg at Anfield in the Reds' final pre-season fixture before they start their Premier League season next weekend.
The contest took place just over 24 hours after Jurgen Klopp's side toppled Manchester City in the Community Shield, with the Reds boss naming a heavily rotated starting line-up for this clash.
Things got off to a disastrous start when the Reds found themselves 1-0 down inside the opening five minutes after Adrien Thomasson's strike. Reds fan's may have been hoping to put it down to a slow start, but Strasbourg were the superior side and it would become evident as the fixture went on.
Another two Strasbourg goals, one from Habib Diallo and a second from Thomasson ensured Liverpool were left with quite the mountain to climb inside the first 25 minutes of the tie.
Diallo's effort was the pick of the bunch from the three first-half goals, with the Senegal international unleashing a lethal left-footed effort beyond the desparing dive of shot-stopper Harvey Davies.
In truth, the closest the Reds came all game was a free-kick from Stefan Bajcetic which forced Strasbourg 'keeper Matz Sels into a decent save during the first-half.
Mirror Football has analysed five talking points from a night to forget for Liverpool at home.
A new-look Liverpool
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It came as absolutley no surprise to see the Reds starting line-up entirely changed from the eleven that faced off against Pep Guardiola's men on Saturday afternoon.
Ever-present James Milner managed to muster up the energy to feature in both games, as did teenage duo Harvey Elliot and Fabio Carvalho. Every other player was left at home for the Community Shield and therefore saw this contest as a chance to prove themselves under the watchful eye of Klopp.
The harsh reality is very few did, with even the youngsters who are more familiar with first-team action underperforming. Luke Chambers' wayward pass handed Strasbourg their second goal of the game after he committed the rookie error of playing the ball back into his own crowded penalty area.
Bajcetic has impressed for the most part over the course of Liverpool's pre-season, but looked way off the pace on Sunday evening against the Ligue 1 opposition.
Liverpool line-up: Davies, Mabaya (Phillips, 45), Konate (van den Berg, 57), Gomez, Chambers, Morton, Bajcetic (Clark, 57), Milner, Elliott, Carvalho, Frauendorf (Musialowski, 76)
More minutes for Joe Gomez
Gomez is one of the few players named in the starting line-up against Strasbourg that could view the game as a realistic audition for the first-team on the eve of the new season.
Once touted as the future of Liverpool's defence, the England star has been the victim of serious and persistent injury struggles over the last few years. To put his fitness woes into context, Gomez has played just 15 Premier League fixtures over the last two seasons.
With that in mind, he'd have liked to have given a better account of himself against Strasbourg but in truth was actually given the run-a-round by huge forward Ludovic Ajorque.
Shipping three goals inside 21 minutes is unlikely to have helped his chances of breaking into Klopp's central defensive plans in time for the opening exchanges of the new campaign.
He was eventually shifted to right-back to accommodate for the arrival of Nat Phillips who came on as a second-half substitution.
Dodgy defending
While it is clear the back-four that faced off against Strasbourg are unlikely to be deployed as a quartet in the Premier League any time soon, it did still feature first-team regulars Ibrahima Konate and Gomez.
They were joined by Isaac Mabaya, who impressed the last time he was called upon for the fixture against RB Salzburg in Austria last week. However, the youngster couldn't quite repeat that standard against the French outfit and was at fault for the game's opening goal.
The teenager appeared to lose his bearings and fail to realise who he was trying to mark - by the time he'd got up to speed it was far too late. Adrien Thomasson was on hand to put Strasbourg in front with a composed finish.
Konate hardly covered himself in glory either in what was a disappointing passage of play for everyone in the Reds backline. The goals that followed are likely to have left Klopp with much to think about.
A physical mismatch
It is understandable given the huge contrast in age and experience between the two sides, but the majority of Liverpool's side paled in comparison to Strasbourg's physicality.
While Elliot is used to coming up against tougher opposition from his time in the Reds first-team, the likes of Melkamu Frauendorf and even former Fulham star Carvalho struggled at times to deal with Strasbourg's strength.
The Reds attacking line-up in particular looked out of their depth - a far cry from the presence offered by the likes of Darwin Nunez against City on Saturday.
What Klopp can take from the tie
The German would have been fully aware a win would have been a tall order for a Liverpool side so young, but may have been disappointed with the performance of some.
The unfortunate truth is despite a slightly improved display the other side of the interval, Liverpool never really looked like clawing back the three-goal deficit they found themselves having to recover from so early on.
Klopp is often one to take the positives from defeats, but the Reds manager has very little to work with in the aftermath of this showing.
The Anfield faithful didn't even get the chance to celebrate a consolation goal, with Liverpool failing to put the Strasbourg goal under any kind of sustained, meaningful pressure.
