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So far this season, Liverpool has lost as many games as it has won in the Premier League: six apiece. A familiar pattern — and one that needs to be broken quickly — has emerged.
If Arne Slot's men go in front, that instills confidence. But if they go behind, the referee might as well blow the final whistle there and then. Liverpool is yet to pick up a point after going behind.
As a means of trying to change the course of a contest, Slot has gotten into the habit of just throwing on attackers when Liverpool needs a goal. That is not a sustainable strategy, though, and in any case, it simply isn't working.
There is no structure to the team when the Liverpool boss takes that approach, and everything looks a bit of a mess when you just keep adding players, most of whom are out of position.
At the end of the defeat to Nottingham Forest, half of the back four (Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch) were playing in unfamiliar roles.
Mohamed Salah, Hugo Ekitike, Federico Chiesa, Cody Gakpo and Rio Ngumoha formed a forward five, with Alexis Mac Allister the sole man in the middle. It was, understandably, a bit of a muddle.
"After I took Ibou [Konate] off, indeed we played with two midfielders in our last line," Slot said in his post-match press conference. "That's true, but we also needed goals. That's why I brought Ekitike in for Ibou to bring a player in who can score a goal.
"Just before we conceded the 3-0, I went to a 3-3-4 because I didn't feel that after my first substitution, we were able to create a lot. I know, we know, you probably know even better than me, but I am here for one-and-a-half years now and if you score a goal in this stadium, something can happen."
Lumping on as many attackers as possible, though, just creates chaos. There is no control or composure, and Liverpool looks like it is panicking. As a one-off measure, it might sometimes pay dividends. So far this season, though it has been trialed many times, it has yet to work.
"I don't think we struggled with that," Slot insisted. "I think we ended up a lot, a lot, a lot of times on our side with Cody [Gakpo] and with Mo [Salah].
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"But we struggled to create a chance [from] that because they were defending with so many players in and around their box. Then, if you've tried for 75 minutes with four defenders, three midfielders and three attackers, the idea was to make an offensive substitution.
"I did it last season as well — took Ibou off and brought Diogo Jota in, and one minute later — away at Forest, I mean — we scored the 1-1. Then, it was brave. Now, it is probably stupid."
Given that Liverpool is proving incapable of reacting positively to adversity, there is a question mark over its mentality — strangely, given it was celebrating its title victory only 13 Premier League games ago.
Clearly, however, throwing the game plan out of the window and launching offensive player after offensive player in the vicinity of the opposition goal isn't the solution. Slot's stars need to show some more composure, but so does the Liverpool boss himself.
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