Liverpool suffered back-to-back defeats for just the second time under Arne Slot as the Premier League champions lost 1-0 at Galatasaray in the Champions League.
After a perfect start to the campaign across domestic and European action, Slot's charges slipped up at Crystal Palace last weekend, before being edged out in Turkey.
Slot opted to rotate his starting team from the defeat at Palace - with a shock benching for Mohamed Salah - and the Reds struggled in Istanbul.
An off-key night for Liverpool meant Victor Osimhen's first-half penalty was enough to inflict at first UCL loss of 2025/26.
A lack of forward thrust was clear to see - despite the late introduction of Salah and Alexander Isak - as Liverpool failed to score in a UCL group stage/league phase game for the first time since losing 2-0 to Atalanta in November 2020 - ending a run of 23 consecutive matches.
Captain Virgil van Dijk admitted it's been a tough week for the squad and claimed they are yet to show their title winning authority from last season across a full 90 minutes so far in this campaign.
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"I think we've shown authority in many games this season but haven't shown it for a full 90 minutes yet," as per BBC Sport.
"It's normal and nowadays you don't get the time from the outside world so you have to be strong mentally. I'm very confident, we have to keep working and sticking together. We've had a good start in terms of our points tally.
"There shouldn't be panic, but improvement is needed."
Liverpool face a quick turnaround ahead of a league trip to Chelsea on October 4, with goalkeeper Alisson out injured, after the Brazilian was forced off on 56 minutes at Galatasaray.
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