Liverpool are not battling through "a blip" but a "serious problem", according to club great Jamie Carragher.
Jurgen Klopp's side sit ninth in the Premier League, 13 points off the top ahead of Arsenal's meeting with Nottingham Forest on Sunday, after falling to defeat against Leeds United on Saturday.
Crysencio Summerville's late strike snatched an unlikely victory for strugglers Leeds as Liverpool suffered their first Premier League defeat at Anfield since March 2021, ending a 29-match home unbeaten run in the competition.
Despite Mohamed Salah cancelling out Rodrigo Moreno's early opener, Illan Meslier made a series of impressive stops to help pave the way for Summerville's winner, and Carragher feels his former side face a worrying situation.
"It's a huge result for Leeds but Liverpool have got massive problems," Carragher said in his role as a pundit on Sky Sports.
"Leeds' fans know how big a result this is. It's so long since anyone's won at Anfield. They're going to milk it and rightly so. It will do wonders for them, in terms of the league table.
"This isn't a blip for Liverpool, this is a serious problem. There's no doubt that the goalkeeper in the last 10-15 minutes has kept Leeds in it but if you look at the whole game you can't say Leeds haven't deserved to get something from it. They were fantastic.
"Klopp must be thinking, what else can I try now? Different permutations, formations, personnel."
Klopp again bemoaned a lack of consistency, lamenting the injury issues Liverpool face, though Graeme Souness offered a scathing assessment of his former side's capabilities.
"Liverpool are a country mile from where they were over the last few years," Souness added. "In many instances, Leeds were more than a match for Liverpool and they did to Liverpool what they had been doing to teams for years.
"Liverpool basically bullied teams before, their midfield bullied teams. And now they're being bullied. That's making them vulnerable at the back, and they're not creating the same chances up front. Liverpool are a shadow [of the team they used to be].
"Liverpool still had enough chances to win the game, but they are not like the Liverpool we've seen for the last five years. They don't play with the same intensity and just don't have it in their legs anymore."
Souness pinpointed Liverpool's midfield as a primary reason for their struggles.
"If correct [Leeds ran 11 kilometres more than Liverpool], then to a man they ran a kilometre more than Liverpool. That's a big difference," he continued.
"And if you look at a midfield of Thiago [Alcantara], 31, [Jordan] Henderson, 31, Fabinho, 29, then after that you have [Naby] Keita and [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones who is 21, and Harvey Elliot who's 19.
"If you go back to the start of the season, Jurgen [Klopp] must have looked at his midfield and thought: 'We're vulnerable here'. I feel their midfield is no longer a midfield that is going to get them back and win the big trophies."
On this day in 2016: Aston Villa relegated from Premier League
Aston Villa were relegated from the Premier League following a 1-0 defeat away to Manchester United on this day in 2016.
Marcus Rashford’s 32nd-minute goal condemned Villa to the second tier of English football for the first time in 28 years.
Rudy Gestede hit the post with a volley late on but there was no delaying what was by then the inevitable.
It was a ninth straight defeat and 24th of the campaign for Villa in a dire season.
They would finish with only three wins and 17 points, half the tally of 19th-placed Norwich, and 22 points adrift of safety.
Villa, the 1982 European Cup winners, had been part of the Premier League since its inception and in the top flight since 1988.
But the 2015-16 season quickly turned into a horror show and they had been bottom of the table since the start of November.
Manager Remi Garde had left the previous month and Villa travelled to Old Trafford under the leadership of caretaker boss Eric Black, who never had any realistic hope of turning the tide as fans turned on the club’s American owner Randy Lerner.
At Old Trafford they were comfortably outplayed by Louis van Gaal’s United side, who were in a tight battle with neighbours City for fourth place and Champions League football – one in which they would ultimately come out second best on goal difference.
Villa spent the next three seasons in the Championship before returning to the top flight via the play-offs in 2019.
Mauricio Pochettino ‘so upset’ over Chelsea penalty bust-up despite huge win
Cole Palmer’s four-goal haul in Chelsea’s thumping 6-0 win over Everton at Stamford Bridge was overshadowed by what Mauricio Pochettino called “unacceptable” behaviour as two of his players were involved in a physical altercation over who should take a penalty.
The home side were four goals up in the second half when Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke caused the unsavoury scene that left their manager feeling the need to apologise to fans watching the game around the world.
Palmer, the club’s appointed penalty taker, finally took charge following intervention from the captain Conor Gallagher, recovering his composure to score his fourth of the game and move on to 20 Premier League goals for the season.
“The players know, the club knows that Palmer is the penalty-taker,” said Pochettino, who was visibly agitated during his post-match duties.
“I’m so, so upset about the situation. In every country people are watching the game and we cannot send this type of image.
“I want to apologise to our fans. Discipline is the most important thing for the team. It’s a collective sport. I’m not going to accept this type of behaviour. I’m going to be very strong. I promise it’s not going to happen again.
“We need to move on and talk about the game – 6-0 against a very good team like Everton, clean sheet, I think we should be happy, no?”
In a debut season defined by individual excellence, the first half was superb, even by Palmer’s own exceptional standards.
His first goal alone was worthy of winning a Premier League match, nutmegging Jarrad Branthwaite before playing a neat one-two with Jackson, then curling the ball left-footed beyond the dive of Jordan Pickford.
His second was a poacher’s finish, reacting quickest to knock in the rebound after Jackson’s effort had been pushed out by the goalkeeper.
Everton were falling apart, a collapse encapsulated by Pickford’s error, playing the ball straight to Palmer to punt the ball into an empty net from 45 yards.
Jackson scored Chelsea’s fourth, hooking Marc Cucurella’s cross under control and guiding it home with a swing of the right boot.
Then came the sight of Jackson and Madueke pushing and shoving over a penalty awarded in the 63rd minute.
“We don’t talk about punishment,” said Pochettino. “It’s about learning. They are young guys. It was very good the reaction of Gallagher like a captain. But you cannot show that type of behaviour.
“The discipline is going to be stronger. If they behave like kids, it’s impossible. You cannot behave like kids. It’s a shame, it’s an unacceptable thing. We don’t deserve to be talking about this.”
At the end of an excellent display, academy graduate Alfie Gilchrist capped things off by firing home his first goal for the club in stoppage time.
Everton boss Sean Dyche, whose side sit just two points clear of the relegation zone, reflected on a “horrid” night for his team.
“It’s miles off where we want to be,” he said. “There’s no excuses for that. Miles off the mark, miles from where we’ve been.
“The goals were alarmingly poor. It’s just simple tackling, reading and anticipating the game. The basics were out the window. A horrid night without a shadow of a doubt.”
Luke Hannant brace clinches Gateshead play-off place
Gateshead secured their place in the National League play-offs with a 2-1 win over champions Chesterfield, who suffered a fourth successive defeat since wrapping up the title.
The home side – facing a third game in the space of five days after losing at Fylde and Maidenhead – took the lead in the 12th minute through a penalty from Luke Hannant.
Chesterfield fell further behind in the 32nd minute when midfielder Hannant converted another spot-kick – and Spireites boss Paul Cook was shown a yellow card for his protests on the touchline.
The visitors pulled a goal back on the hour mark when defender Louis Storey turned a cross into his own net, but Gateshead held on to make sure of their play-off spot.
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