A one-nil reversal at home. Against a side that has accepted a couple of our rejects in the past and even in the present. The post was hit in the dying minutes. Yet I could not feel aggrieved or felt like complaining about the result. The performance has been truly abysmal, dire and disjointed. The lads just couldn’t keep their feet on the ground, sliding over their arses time and again, as if yesterday was the first rainy day in Anfield’s history. The match and performance was out of place and out of synch with the much awaited and revered European nights at Anfield as much as a recession is with prosperity.

Reina got beaten for the first time from open play and this time even from outside his penalty area. Still he was one of the top performers and had no chance with their goal. It was one of them unstoppable shots, curving through the crossbar before bouncing over the line. He looked secure in everything he did, but unfortunately was one of the very few. The left flank manned or better populated by Aurelio and Leto was the biggest contrast to Reina’s assuredness. Both looked like the proverbial rabbits caught in the headlights. I feel it was one game too early for Leto and the jump from Toulouse in the preliminaries to Marseille in the Champions League group stages proved too steep for the Argentinean. He was sent to a congested motorway after only driving in an empty car park. His team mates around him did not help either. There were no-one around to shadow his mistakes and uncertainties, and no sublime performers to talk about today after the match to forget the negatives either. On his right, his captain Gerrard has been a pale shadow of the superlative one against Aston Villa and Chelsea. Since his broken toe and two games in five days for England after such injury, he has never really picked up. Alongside him Sissoko gave the ball away countless times, and it’s no surprise the move to their goal started after he lost the ball. I called him a Malian energy box after the Sunderland match, but he’s back to losing possession cheaply again. He can run every blade of the pitch for you any day but when Liverpool have the onus to attack and distribution rather than destroying is imperative, he is a somewhat liability.

Benitez admitted this as one of the worst performances of his time in Liverpool. Whether yesterday was an off day as a result of over confidence and complacency considering the opponents were only the Ligue 1 bottom team, or something more serious and deeper than that - an effect of Pako Ayestran’s departure or a black November coming early, will be partly answered by the display and result against troubled Martin Jol’s Spurs next Sunday.