The sight of the downcast and dejected Mohamed Salah trudging off as Liverpool desperately chased an equaliser against Manchester United was an ominous symbol of their current struggles.
If there was one player in recent Anfield history who would be backed to conjure up a match-saving moment of magic it is ‘The Egyptian King’, the spearhead of all Liverpool’s recent successes.
And yet there was Salah, replaced by Jeremie Frimpong moments after Harry Maguire had headed what proved to be Manchester United’s 84th-minute winner in a 2-1 triumph, their first at Anfield for more than a decade.
It inflicted Liverpool’s fourth successive loss, their worst sequence of results since 2014 under Brendan Rodgers, as what was portrayed as a blip now becomes something deeper when placed alongside the previous sky-high standards set under head coach Arne Slot in his triumphant first title-winning season.
“If you lose four times in a row, you need to be concerned,” Slot told Match of the Day. “We know how it works in football.
“If we keep bringing in these performances we will have a fair chance of winning more football games. Losing four times in a row definitely does something with the team.”
If they lose for the fifth time in a row to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday, it would be the first time Liverpool have suffered this fate since September 1953.
Liverpool even felt the frustrations of their own supporters on occasions, when build-up was ponderous and they looked short of ideas to penetrate United’s unyielding defence.
There were moments of ill-luck against United, Cody Gakpo striking the woodwork three times before equalising in the 78th minute.
Salah slashed unconvincingly at a golden opportunity, underlining the 33-year-old’s current lack of form and confidence, extending his run without scoring a non-penalty goal to seven games.
Doubting world-class players is always a dangerous occupation, but Salah has looked out of sorts this season, left out of the Champions League defeat by Galatasaray in Istanbul, then being substituted here with Liverpool trying to rescue a point.