Manchester United on Sunday was dismal, Wednesday night was pedestrian.
Liverpool lurched from a rock to a hard place in suffering the second defeat of Arne Slot’s reign.
Here are three takeaways.
A maelstrom of struggle
This was a game in which Liverpool struggled. The red engine which has run almost seamlessly from the start of the season has seemingly begun to splutter.
Liverpool struggled to find combinations in the correct areas for the second time in a week.
The almost flawless Mohamed Salah that we have seen this campaign has struggled to receive the ball in the past two outings, and in this one in particular, has not done enough when he has had it.
Make no mistake, Liverpool were worryingly bad, a poor run of form was always likely to happen. It was exacerbated though by a couple of bad decisions in the run-up to the goal.
Bergvall, already on a booking, should have been dismissed for a clear yellow card tackle on Kostas Tsimikas. The absence of a yellow card in a situation like this could have been because he was already on a yellow card, a piece of nonsensical refereeing that officials often mis implement.
Secondly, as a result of the challenge, Tsimikas was and should not have been off the pitch as Tottenham scored, in part by virtue of playing a ball to the left-back position vacated by him.
That though does not excuse the poor defending, Ibrahima Konate should have stood Doninic Solanke up better.
Trent’s good performance
After an abysmal display against Manchester United, Trent Alexander-Arnold put in a good showing against Tottenham Hotspur.
After coming on as a substitute, he played some good passes in-behind the Spurs defence, and showed the buds of the Trent we know he can be.
The Travelling Kop sang his name multiple times while he was on the pitch, and it would be useful to see a shift in the tide of supporter opinion.
Alexander-Arnold will need to improve his defensive solidity if he is to win back the hearts of all Liverpool fans.
As someone who wants him to succeed, but has felt frustrated in recent weeks, good performances coupled by a contract extension will only help.
Arne Slot’s selection
Arne Slot made four changes to the Liverpool team ahead of the match on Wednesday.
Conor Bradley, Jarell Quansah, Kostas Tsimikas, and Diogo Jota came in for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson, and Luis Diaz.
The changes initially screamed to me of a manager unhappy with the display that he saw at the weekend.
There were, I think, other reasons for the changes. The manager wanted minutes in the legs of Bradley, Quansah, and Jota. Bradley was excellent defensively by the way.
Konate and Alexander-Arnold needed out of the spotlight after struggles at the weekend, and in a physical sense for the injury-prone Konate who looked rusty on Sunday.
Particularly after Quansah went off injured and there was a considerable delay, Liverpool looked disjointed and the changes are a good reason why.
It is worth remembering the eerie hark back last season where an odd assortment of first-team players coming back from injury, coupled with tired rotation players, called Liverpool’s season to stall.
Accrington Stanley on Saturday is a free-hit, after that Liverpool need to snap out of it in the big one against Nottingham Forest.