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Former Liverpool star Steve Nicol was left fuming with Arne Slot following the Reds' 3-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Premier League over the weekend.
The result leaves the Reds trailing Arsenal by eight points and languishing in eighth spot in the table after 11 games. Liverpool has an easier run of fixtures coming up, but Slot's men might be too far behind in the title race, even at this early stage.
"Other than maybe five minutes after half-time when Liverpool looked as though they were trying to get back in it, that was it," Nicol said on ESPN.
"We laughed at Spurs and how long it took them to get off a shot (in a 2-2 draw against Manchester United). Liverpool were the same; 73 minutes, [Gianluigi] Donnarumma made his first save.
"There is one thing that really annoyed me about the game. Arne Slot was sat on his hands in the first half and changed nothing. Liverpool were getting completely overrun and he did nothing.
"Mo Salah might as well have been sitting on a deck chair watching what was going on. Florian Wirtz doesn't know how to defend properly, and they were getting completely outnumbered in the middle.
"At least affect the game. Get more bodies in the middle of the park. Do something. You can't let the thing happen because all they did is let the game pan out in the first half how it had from the first whistle.
"That annoyed me more than anything else. Liverpool couldn't string three or four passes together at any stage.
"When you're doing that against a City team who, at the very least, keep the ball well, you’re never going to get hold of it yourself."
Liverpool returns from the international break with a home clash with Nottingham Forest. It then concludes November with a trip to West Ham United and begins December with games against newly promoted Sunderland and Leeds.
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"Obviously, we've given ourselves a huge uphill battle, but I don't think any of the teams will really look at the league table until we're halfway through," Andy Robertson said post-match of Liverpool's position in the standings.
"That's what we've got to do but we've got to pick up points on a more consistent basis and then let's see where we are after Christmas time or whatever. We've just got to focus on ourselves and focus on performance levels."
Liverpool.com says: Slot didn't make changes at half-time but Alexander Isak isn't fully fit and he doesn't trust Federico Chiesa that much on the evidence of his time at Liverpool so far.
He did bring on Cody Gakpo, which made some difference, but he missed a big chance at the back post. Ultimately, Liverpool was comfortably second best and there wasn't much the Reds boss could do at that point.
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