Brighton & Hove Albion inflicted back-to-back home defeats on Liverpool.
A dour game was settled early in the second half when Steven Alzate prodded past Caoimhin Kelleher from Dan Burn’s headed ball across the face of goal.
The Premier League champions now sit seven points behind current leaders Manchester City, who have a game in-hand and will face them this weekend.
Here were the key talking points from Anfield:
Reds have finally been found out
Deep down, Jurgen Klopp knew this day was always coming for Liverpool.
Teams have started to work out how to successfully knock down on the Premier League champions without the need to resort to ‘parking the bus’.
It is no coincidence that the three teams who have taken maximum points beneath The Kop’s shadow did so with a clear and stringent game plan.
Brighton followed a different blueprint to those of Burnley and the Reds’ Champions League group stage opponents Atalanta in their victory route.
Seizing on their hosts’ ongoing deficiencies through an adverturous approach which married solid defending and counter-attacks paved the way for victory.
Whether others follow Graham Potter’s lead will become known as the season progresses but the way to victory, especially at Anfield, is clearly mapped out.
City or bust for title defence
Klopp stopped short of conceding the Premier League title race in the wake of the Seagulls inflicting Liverpool’s first consecutive home defeats since 2012.
The Liverpool manager knows how quickly the pendulum can swing in the battle for supremacy, especially when Manchester City enter the equation.
This weekend’s visit of the current leaders brings to mind a recent scenario where Anfield was home to a runaway challenger and not ailing champions.
Klopp’s side travelled to the Etihad Stadium in buoyant mood, with a seven-point advantage and designs of taking their margin into double figures.
It did not quite work out that way and the role reversal as City pipped their North West rivals at the post two seasons ago serves as a valuable lesson.
Liverpool, however, cannot afford to chalk down another bad day at the office when Pep Guardiola’s champions-elect venture to Merseyside on Sunday.
If they do, Klopp’s next admission will double as a concession statement – especially with City able to widen the gap with their game in-hand at Everton.
Anfield stuck in Groundhog Day
It’s fitting that this latest reversal came in the same week as Groundhog Day; Liverpool have been stuck in a cycle of repetition for quite some time now.
Speculation abounds about another player stricken down – this time it was Alisson Becker through illness – before another highly subdued home outing.
When a breakthrough appears increasingly unlikely, Klopp turns to Divock Origi in the hope that he will metamorphose into his 2018/19 incarnation.
A handful of goals at crucial moments once upon a time does not justify the Belgian’s continued introduction when he is barely flattering to deceive now.
Such has become the tireless predictability of it all, replacing the ‘This Is Anfield’ sign with Bill Murray’s iconic line from the film would not be unjust.
Flat-track bully syndrome in reverse
Accusations of being a flat-track bully were often levelled at Liverpool in the years which preceded their long-awaited march to the title last season.
They could beat the Premier League’s relative minnows but fell apart when going toe-to-toe with the Manchester Uniteds and Arsenals of this world.
That is no longer the case as back-to-back losses to Burnley and now Brighton underline a reverse in that trend when facing the league’s bottom six sides.
In their seven games against those fighting for survival this season, Klopp’s players took the same number of points from a potential maximum of 21.
Even that was conflated by a narrow victory over Sheffield United at a time when they and manager Chris Wilder were already teetering on the brink.
Little has changed in the Blades’ league position but they will surely relish welcoming Liverpool later this month on the back of this current sequence.