With 33 minutes on the clock against Chelsea , Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch looked down at the turf as an ironic cheer sounded around Stamford Bridge. The Dutchman's miscued pass for teammate Milos Kerkez had trickled straight out of play, and on an evening when a late strike from Estêvão condemned Liverpool to a third-successive defeat in all competitions, Gravenberch's error served as a neat encapsulation of his team's current struggles.

Sloppy, disjointed and low on confidence, Arne Slot's side looks like a shadow of the team that romped to the Premier League title last term, with last weekend's 2-1 defeat in West London following back-to-back away defeats to Crystal Palace and Galatasaray .

"The decision-making could've been better," Slot said in his post-mat

See Full Page