Liverpool players have shaky goatees', harsh criticism of the Reds

You know these are strange times when Jurgen Klopp finds himself agreeing with journalist Neil Jones' assessment of his team's performance. The Liverpool manager often bristles when others try to dissect, point fingers or jump to conclusions, but he could only nod in agreement when it was suggested his team looked "chaotic" during the 3-3 draw with Brighton on Saturday.

At times against Brighton, he said, he was transported back to those early days on Merseyside, when confidence was low, results were patchy and, as he so memorably put it, "nobody liked the team, not even the team itself". Back then, he pointed out, a one-goal lead was enough to cause "heart attacks" at Anfield, so poor were Liverpool at closing out games. "We just weren't convincing," Klopp recalled, and it will have pained him to compare this current team, highly skilled, expensively assembled and with the medals to show for their efforts, with that 2015 hodgepodge.

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To be honest, they will do well to even finish in the top four playing like this. While their rivals go through the gears, Liverpool are frustratingly stuck in neutral. They know exactly what they should do, exactly what they are capable of and exactly what their manager expects of them but, for some reason, the wheels just don't turn like they used to. Their problems are innumerable, too many to count. Key players are floundering while others struggle to step up. The energy is gone, the foundations have weakened and the growing suspicion is that if this is not a team in transition, then it is one in decline.

Certainly, there certainly seems to be a huge hangover from last season, when Klopp's side came within a whisker of a historic quadruple. The cost of that quest, both physically and mentally, can be seen in Liverpool's performances during the opening weeks of this campaign. They fought so hard for so long, but it looks like that might have taken it all away from them.

<strong>‘They are losing confidence in Klopp’</strong>

How else do you explain the fact that almost all of the Reds' key men are struggling at the same time? It's not just about Trent Alexander-Arnold's defending or Mohamed Salah's goals, it's about a group of players who have lost what made them special, whose confidence has gone and whose legs look shaky. Whether it is Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Andy Robertson, James Milner, Salah or Alexander-Arnold, the standard has dropped.