(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Liverpool have played 11 matches this season, four of them against decent opposition and they have lost all four. Is a trend beginning to develop at Anfield that could deny the club of that coveted Premiership title?
Liverpool slumped to their 4th defeat in 11 games with a 2-0 loss at Stamford Bridge against high flying Chelsea. The result leaves them just outside the top four and with an uphill battle if they are to have any say in the direction of the title this season.
The loss at Chelsea was always likely, neither side have been playing well over the last couple of weeks, but the Pensioners have a much stronger squad and when push came to shove their experience and guile pulled them through.
It was the manner of the defeat that will hurt most Liverpool fans though. The Reds only threatened occasionally and both Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres were expertly marshaled out of the game by a clever Chelsea side.
It was similar in the first game of the season when Liverpool travelled to White Hart Lane to take on Tottenham. The Reds had hammered Spurs 3-1 at Anfield in the last game of last season and more was expected this time around.
But a new look Spurs took the game to Liverpool, and again both star players were ushered out of the game before Spurs took complete control to inflict the first defeat of the season on Rafael Benitez's team.
The following weekend Liverpool were to taste defeat again. This time Martin O'Neill's struggling Aston Villa travelled to Anfield. They produced a perfect smash and grab performance to win 3-2.
Again Liverpool struggled to create much, and found it very difficult to deal with Villa's counter attacking game.
The end result meant that after three games of the new season, Liverpool had lost as many games as they had in the entire of the previous one.
Both Villa and Spurs are expected to challenge for the Europa League positions this season (5th to 7th), and are decent teams, but they were challenging for the same positions last season, and teams with title ambitions like Liverpool, United, and Chelsea should be putting these type teams to the sword.
A good run of results against the weaker teams in the EPL saw Liverpool win four games on the bounce and score a credible 16 goals, which set them up with their best goal difference start to the league of all time.
In reality though, Liverpool were showing signs of weakness.
In between those four Premiership games, Liverpool took on Debrechen from Hungary in their first game of this seasons Champions League group stage. The Hungarian champions, the only actual champions in group E, were expected to be cannon fodder for the Reds.
Over the course of their 1-0 win Liverpool continued to struggle to break down their opposition. Debrechen came with a game plan, and left it up to the Reds to break them down, again Liverpool struggled.
Their next game was against Gianfranco Zola's struggling West Ham side. The first half was a very tense affair but the class of Fernando Torres widened the gulf between the two teams as Liverpool moved to a 3-2 win.
Next was Leeds in the Carling Cup. A 1-0 win for the reserves over Leeds was enough to see Liverpool through to the next round against Arsenal but baring in mind that Leeds are a League One team, the difference in class of the opposing teams was not very apparent.
A return to form against relegation bound Hull City saw Fernando Torres run them ragged with a fantastic hattrick as the Anfield giants roared to an impressive 6-1 win.
Liverpool then had to travel to Florence to take on Italy's 4th placed team, Fiorentina. This was to be their biggest test since the Aston Villa game. Their first real opposition since then.
A dreadful performance saw the Viola run out well deserved 2-0 winners with Montenegro's striker Stevan Jovetic bagging both goals.
Four days later the Reds travelled to Stamford Bridge to take on their fourth good team this season, and the rest is history,
The Liverpool unit of this season are a very different beast from the team last year. League wise, the Reds only lost twice last year, to Spurs and Middlesbrough.
They did start slowly last year with a run of poor performances against Middlesbrough and Sunderland amongst others, but as the best teams often do, they prevailed against the weaker opposition and emerged as real title contenders after Christmas.
They put in an incredible run of results from March that saw them thump not only Real Madrid but also Manchester United on the way to winning 10 games and only drawing once from March.
They were expected to kick on in the same vein this year.
But there are huge differences between this seasons Liverpool team and the team who finished 2nd last year. And the club have a few problem areas.
The defence:
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