Paul Gorst assesses the situation at Anfield after a ninth defeat of the Premier League season for Liverpool
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If Premier League matches lasted only 45 minutes, Liverpool would find themselves down in ninth this season. It's a statistic easily dismissed, of course, but it does at least highlight a trend under Arne Slot.
Slow, even ponderous starts last season eventually came to be viewed within the prism of Liverpool 'figuring out' their opposition; working them into the ground and eventually triumphing with their superior quality and fitness levels.
It was a school of thought that carried merit given the Reds lost just two games before the title was secured in late April. Liverpool eventually sauntered to the title by 10 points and those ordinary first periods, which were often followed up by much-improved showings, essentially became something supporters shrugged at while celebrating a 20th title.
This season, however, has been a different story. In fact, to quote Slot himself at Molineux on Tuesday night, it has become "the same old story" throughout this troubled and turbulent term.
Liverpool have only scored in the first half of 11 of their 29 games and they have registered more than one goal only four times. Saturday's hat-trick of corners against West Ham United was the only time they have found the back of the net more than twice and the Reds rank as low as eighth in Expected Goals (xG) in the first half of fixtures.
Once more Liverpool were invited by Wolves to break them down in the opening 45 minutes at Molineux and were found wanting, creating little, with wide players Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo in particular lacking incision or invention.
Both players are struggling and look pale imitations of a duo who scored a combined 39 goals last time out and 52 across all competitions. This term, the pair's total haul stands at a paltry 11 in the Premier League.
Few could have predicted the nightmare season that was in store for Alexander Isak when he traded Tyneside for Merseyside on September 1 but the absence of the £125m striker has led to an over-reliance on Hugo Ekitike due to the struggles endured by Salah and Gakpo.
In Slot's system, the wide forward is king but the Reds are getting a pauper's return right now and despite spending fortunes to bring in the likes of Isak, Ekitike and Florian Wirtz, more pace, power and goals are needed from whoever is signed this coming summer, that much is becoming clear.
But to lay the blame at the door of club legend Salah or a confidence-shot Gakpo would be inaccurate and unfair and the head coach's insistence on Monday that slow starts are not down to his and the team's approach is fanciful.
It is not the prerogative of other teams to allow Liverpool to play through them as they wish and Slot's protestations about the opposition's way of counteracting his strengths have come across as entitled at times.
The constant referencing of low block and the endless focus on set-pieces have started to sound like white noise to many, especially since nine games have resulted in defeat. However it is achieved, Liverpool need significantly more intensity and creativity in the early going of their games.
Finishing games strongly has been just as big an issue for Liverpool, however, with the 93rd-minute strike from Andre Trindade the fifth time the Reds have lost a game thanks to a goal scored after stoppage time.
It's the worst of any team in a single season in Premier League history and when you add in that draws were recorded through late goals from Leeds United and Fulham, it's crystal clear there is a problem that cannot be placed down to simple misfortune. It is a history-making pattern for a reason.
"You can't compare them," argues Virgil van Dijk. "Tonight it was a massive deflection. We had chances to make it 2-1 to us. I had a massive chance. Mo had the one that got intercepted. It could have gone the other way as well.
"At Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, the late goals came from set-pieces. The others I can't even remember. We've also scored a lot of late goals ourselves this season. The fact is we lost tonight and in my opinion that's all down to us, with all due respect to Wolves."
On the slow starts themselves, Van Dijk says: "It's a combination of things - playing against Wolves, who obviously sit back. Even from my position or from the stands, it's easy to analyse.
"But you have to try to drag them out to one side and then move it as quickly as possible to the other side to create one v ones or runners in behind.
"Our decision making was not good. That's a combination - down to us and down to Wolves. We could have created more and got into a lot more promising positions that we did tonight.
"That's what we have to show on Friday (in the FA Cup) if we want to beat them and go through in the FA Cup."