Is there any team that was a worthy Premier League candidate like Liverpool, but needs to be rebuilt soon after? This is a strange situation that Liverpool saw themselves fall into after a 2-3 loss to Fulham.
That is a result that will not change the course of the Premier League championship race this season, but still raises doubts about the resilience of the "Red Brigade".
Arne Slot's side are still 11 points ahead of Arsenal and the Premier League season has just seven games left. After Jurgen Klopp's departure, this is still an unexpected success for Liverpool.
The Premier League title will be a worthy reward for a team that has shown more stability than any other opponent. After all, the defeat to Fulham was their first away defeat in the Premier League under Slot and ended a 26-match unbeaten streak.
However, such a poor defensive performance would reinforce the concern that Liverpool need to make significant changes in the transfer market. Even if they successfully keep Mohamed Salah, Trent-Alexander Arnold and Virgil Van Dijk, there are still many other concerns in the squad.
Alexander-Arnold is increasingly likely to join Real Madrid, with Conor Bradley as the clear successor at right-back. But any thought of Curtis Jones proving himself to be a good reserve player in that position has gone bankrupt against Fulham.
Andy Robertson also endured a tough game. This adds to the weight of the assessment that the 31-year-old left-back's best days have passed. Overall, the Reds may need two new full-backs.
3 goals conceded in 14 minutes against Fulham was an incredible collapse for Liverpool. This was the first time they have conceded three goals in the first half of a Premier League game since October 2020.
"I found some construction situations very good, the way we positioned ourselves. It was not a 45-minute disaster. Mistakes are not something we often make and in my opinion, that is different from playing badly.
One of the reasons why we are in the current position is because we don't make many mistakes and if we do, the players will try to fix them. This can happen, especially when you play against a good team like Fulham.
In the end, we created a lot of chances that we could have exploited. We lacked time. Then, in the last 20-25 minutes, I think it was clear," Slot said after the loss to Fulham.
Fulham played great throughout the match when Sander Berge had an admirable effort in midfield. Meanwhile, Calvin Bassey also successfully held Salah back. However, Liverpool's inability to recover also highlights their dependence on the Egyptian to make a difference.
Salah has done it over and over again - scoring 27 goals in 31 league appearances. But after scoring in 8 consecutive matches, Salah now has only 2 goals in 7 matches and all of them were penalties against Southampton.
Regarding Salah's difficulties, Slot said: "Maybe he should consider people's talk as a compliment, because Salah's previous scoring statistics are unusual. The valuable thing about Salah is that he knows exactly what kind of player he is. Salah will shine again, I don't worry about that at all".
Liverpool have benefited from their key players keeping up their fitness for most of the campaign compared to other opponents. Think about Rodri's knee injury at Manchester City or the long absence of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz and Ben White at Arsenal.
However, requiring Salah to shine in every match has become a problem for them to solve at the end of the season. This will become even more urgent if he leaves the club. A centre-forward could be added to Liverpool's transfer list.
"There is no reason for us to be complacent because we are not in good form, winning every match by 3 or 4 goals. We always try our best to win the matches. The whole team understands that we have to compete in all 7 remaining matches" - Slot denied the complacency of Liverpool players.
