Liverpool's Premier League title defence continues to crumble in spectacular fashion as they fell to a dismal 3-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest at Anfield.
Stunned home supporters could only look on in disbelief as Arne Slot's side slipped to a sixth defeat in seven league games following a loss which drops them into the bottom half of the table.
Forest took the lead in the 33rd minute when Liverpool failed to deal with a corner and defender Murillo slammed home into the bottom corner.
Any hopes of an immediate home response after the break were quickly dashed when former Liverpool player Neco Williams cut the back for Nicolo Savona to fire past Alisson Becker in the 46th minute.
Slot brought on striker Hugo Ekitike for defender Hugo Ekitike, with Frenchman joining Alexander Isak up front, as Liverpool attempted to get a foothold in the game.
But neither would make any impact as British-record signing Isak was substituted with 22 minutes still to play to leave the Swede still awaiting his first league goal for the club after another anonymous showing.
Driven by another superb performance from England midfielder Elliott Anderson, Forest went on to rub salt in Liverpool wounds when Morgan Gibbs-White scored after Alisson saved from Omari Hutchinson.
Having spent £450 million on new talent over the summer, the pressure is mounting on Slot with having lost back-to-back league games by a margin of three-plus goals for the first time since April 1965 under Bill Shankly.
Before the international break, Liverpool were humbled 3-0 at Manchester City and now find themselves eight points behind leaders Arsenal, who face Tottenham Hotspur in the North London derby on Sunday.
“We concede too many easy goals,” said captain Virgil van Dijk. “They scored obviously from a set piece again. You can ask if he was in front of Alisson, but it counted, so we're 1-0 down.
“We were not good in terms of battles, challenges, the fight, too rushed. It's a very difficult situation at the moment.
“There was nervousness after we conceded, but not before. We tried to rush things and that's human when you're in a difficult moment.
“We cleared the ones before and in the end, we'te in a very difficult moment. We don't get out of it by just speaking about it. It will take a lot of hard work.
“It's a problem. Everyone in the team has to take responsibility as well. Football is a team and everyone has to take responsibility. We have to digest this and take it on the chin. We need to work harder. We have to keep going.”
On home fans leaving in their droves after the third goal, Van Dijk added: “I can't decide what the supporters are doing if they leave early.
“I know the fans have been through thick and thin with us. They will be there with us when we come out of this because we will come out of this.”
For former Everton manager Sean Dyche, now in charge at Forest, it was a memorable return to Merseyside and the three points lifted his team out of the bottom three.
“I didn't expect it but it's happened,” said captain Gibbs-White. “I'm out there trying to help the team as much as possible. I thought the boys were brilliant today. Delighted we got the three points but I hope we're out of the relegation zone.
“We felt comfortable even though we didn't have the ball. We were defensively secure and that's credit to the boys and the manager. Delighted to get another goal but we got a clean sheet and three points at Anfield, which is an incredible thing.
“They're still a great team with incredible individuals. When you're in a tough patch, we know it's hard to get out of it. We knew we'd have a chance and it was about us being solid and taking our chance when we got it.
“When Sean Dyche came in, he made it clear the season starts now. He's been putting us to work, but we needed it to compete at the highest level. We've been running, running, running.”
