Out-of-sorts Liverpool needed a Nordi Mukiele own goal to rescue a fortunate 1-1 draw with Sunderland.
The plucky visitors were on course for their first win at Anfield for 42 years before Florian Wirtz struck, thinking he had scored his first Premier League goal to draw his below-par side level, only for the strike to be latterly accredited to Mukiele.
Jamie Carragher accused Liverpool - without Mohamed Salah in the starting XI for the second time in four days - of "sleepwalking" through the game after Chemsdine Talbi scored a superb opener from range.
The hosts struggled to create again, suffering from imbalance and sloppiness, with Alexander Isak failing to make any sort of impact at the top end. Salah was introduced at half-time to create some urgency and had touched the ball more times inside 15 minutes than Isak had managed all game, despite being unable to land a shot on target.
Substitute Wilson Isidor then had the chance to win it in stoppage time when released by goalkeeper Robin Roefs, rounding Alisson superbly and was only denied by a retreating Federico Chiesa on the line. The visitors also hit the woodwork twice via Trai Hume and Omar Alderete, and generated six efforts on target to Liverpool's four.
"Any team that does the basics right have got a chance of winning against this Liverpool side," Carragher concluded, with the Reds languishing eighth in the league, a point behind Sunderland in sixth.
SportNews' Jamie Carragher:
"Sunderland were fantastic. What an addition to the Premier League. [Dan] Ballard and his mates at the back were fantastic.
"The Liverpool performance was so worrying. It feels like a real step backwards after winning at West Ham. They didn't look like scoring a goal, I can't remember any big chances.
"They are lacking energy, zip, pace and power. Really worrying."
Liverpool have failed to win three successive games at Anfield in all competitions for the first time since a run of eight in March 2021 and have conceded the opening goal in seven of their last nine in the league. What is going so badly wrong?
'Elementary mistakes'
Slot's side are making basic errors all over the pitch. Jamie Redknapp made the point post-match that the once imperious Virgil van Dijk has been one of the worst offenders in recent weeks, caught "second-guessing" himself. The opening for Talbi's goal was manufactured via a long goal-kick, where Isidor beats Ibrahima Konate to the first contact. Van Dijk then steps in to win the ball and does so, but panics with his distribution and concedes possession, before backing off and turning his back on Talbi's shot. All rudimentary stuff.
Second best in duels
Liverpool failed to match Sunderland's intensity throughout, a yard slower to react and, at times, unwilling to even run. Joe Gomez, praised for his solidity in victory over West Ham at the weekend, lost eight of the nine duels he contested. Salah lost all four of his in the second half. Even Dominik Szoboszlai, widely accepted as Liverpool's most athletic midfielder, only won one of five ground duels. Overall, Sunderland made more tackles, more interceptions and more blocks, while also landing more shots on target at the opposite end.
Toothless up top
Isak's poor start to life at Anfield shows no signs of upturn. He might have scored in victory over West Ham, but that's a side who have shipped 27 goals this season. His anonymity is alarming for a player that cost £125m barely three months ago. Hugo Ekitike generated more xG value than he did and was only on the pitch for 16 minutes. And even more damning still, so did Chiesa, after being introduced 86 minutes in. Of the three efforts Isak mustered, zero hit the target, while he managed the same number of touches in the opposition box as Van Dijk (two).
Across Liverpool's last five games they have collectively generated xG value worth 10.08 and scored four times, while conceding 6.52 xG and actually shipping 11 goals. Those numbers do not marry favourably.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot:
"A bit similar to the weekend, a game where we didn't concede a lot but we didn't create a lot. Of course, very unlucky with the goal we conceded, I liked our reaction afterwards. We tried everything to make the winner.
"Another game where we scored less than we could have, and the opponent was good at making a goal out of their moment.
"They are very compact if they go low, there is a reason why we're not the only team who couldn't beat them. They don't concede many goals. It looks slow, but there are so many players around the 18 yard box it's hard to find a free player. Not a lot of chances for both teams, but we did what I'm hoping for, trying, trying, trying to score."
