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Under angry skies and before a simmering manager, Liverpool slipped ever deeper into that dark place with which they are growing a little too familiar.

What once felt like a rut in a peculiar season is now taking on the appearance of a hole. And the problem with holes? Digging in is rarely the smartest answer.

Jurgen Klopp’s problems go far beyond the need for hard work. Of putting a shift in. Not that Liverpool fought the good fight here. No, they were fairly spineless in the fluorescent company of Brighton, actually.

The greater issue is of personnel. Of a midfield that is starting to smell of decay and decline and just doesn’t cover the yards the way they once did. Of a defence that for the second league game in succession left spaces so big they presented as an invitation to party. Of head-to-heads being lost all over the pitch. Of an attack so under-serviced that Cody Gakpo’s league debut barely involved a touch of consequence.