MANCHESTER: Four games without a win for the first time since 2017. Three games without scoring for the first time since 2005.
The dominance of last season is becoming a distant memory for the defending Premier League champions.
Liverpool's 0-0 draw with leader Manchester United saw Jürgen Klopp's team drop to fourth behind Manchester City, which thrashed Crystal Palace on Sunday, and Leicester.
“There is nothing fundamentally different, it is just the result is different," Klopp said. "We have not to worry about it, but we obviously have to ignore the fact and hope it will be good again.
MATCH REPORT | Manchester United stays top after drawing 0-0 at Liverpool
“We did that, but the only possibility we have is to create situations and be ready to fail and do it again. That is a massive difference to when you are flying, because then you deal with the missed chances better."
Targets are being revised, it seems, with a top-four finish the priority.
“We spoke about the fight for the Champions League, so that’s the most important thing and for that you need points,” Klopp said. "It’s not about, ‘If we don’t become champions, it’s not fun anymore.’ That’s not like it is. We just fight for everything and I saw that tonight again. That’s all I need.”
This is a team — albeit depleted by injuries — that won the title by 18 points in July to end Liverpool's 30-year title drought.
“I know that football fans in general are not the most patient species on the planet — they want to win each football game," Klopp said. “I am not very different to that, but I’m long enough in the business to know that you have to go through more difficult periods as well. And it’s not the most difficult in my life — not even close to it.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has endured many difficulties but has now been in charge of United more than two years and leading the club's first credible title challenge since Alex Ferguson retired with the Premier League trophy in his hands in 2013.
Only Alisson Becker's fine saves from Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba prevented United being the first team to win at Anfield since 2017.
“We were a bit disappointed in the performance, not just the result," Solskjaer said. “We didn’t do well enough to cause them problems in the first half, but we defended well and they didn’t create too many chances.
“We know we have players who can win you a game in the blink of a second and Bruno and Paul almost did."