One could feel sorry for Jürgen Klopp.

His Liverpool FC were embarrassing themselves to the bone in Saturday afternoon's away game at Brighton when the manager stood resignedly in front of his bench and put two fingers to his lips as if trying to refrain from roaring wildly in anger .

In-form Brighton & Hove Albion dominated the game in every respect, having more possession and having almost three times as many shots on target;

Liverpool, on the other hand, followed headlong and sometimes heartlessly.

At the final whistle it was 3-0 to the home team from England's south coast and Liverpool had to say thank you that things hadn't gotten worse.

After the game, Klopp spoke Tacheles in the media.

"I really can't remember a worse game.

Not just at Liverpool,” said the coach, who worked for Borussia Dortmund and Mainz 05 before moving to England in autumn 2015: “Today is the low point.” After 18 games in the Premier League, Liverpool is sinking more and more into the morass of mediocrity, the European Cup places are increasingly out of reach.

Liverpool has never been as bad as now at this point in a season with Jürgen Klopp as coach.

"Of course, we're very worried," said Klopp when asked about the situation.

"How could I not after a game like that?"

Critics complain about the lack of development under Klopp

It crunches in all parts of the team, also because of the increasing number of injuries to important players.

In attack, there was again a lack of penetrating power against Brighton: the team felt the absence of Sadio Mané, who switched to FC Bayern in the summer after six years in Liverpool.

The few chances that Liverpool created on Saturday were miserably missed by the offensive players around Cody Gakpo, the only winter signing so far.

In midfield, Klopp relied on the experienced trio of Jordan Henderson, Thiago and Fabinho, who were constantly being played dizzy by lively Brightoners.

Captain Henderson heroically assumed responsibility afterwards, but didn't exude much confidence: “We have little self-confidence and the energy level is low.

We have to keep fighting.”

As before in the 2-2 win against Wolverhampton and 1-3 in Brentford, it was mainly the defense that lacked organization without the injured defender Virgil van Dijk.

The back four of Ibrahima Konaté and Joel Matip in central defense and Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the flanks seemed overwhelmed;

Brighton repeatedly used Liverpool's usual high defensive line for passes in depth because the flanks in particular were not adequately secured.

Added to this were unnecessary mistakes, as in the 1-0, when Brighton's counter-pressing - actually a Liverpool specialty - forced Matip to make a fatal bad pass in the build-up game.

The 3-0 came from a throw-in, after which Brighton's Danny Welbeck juggled the ball through Liverpool's penalty area and struck from close range.

It was only a few months ago that in England there was no game report, no analysis of Liverpool without the word "quadruple".

Because last season Liverpool had the chance to win four titles at once: League Cup, FA Cup, Championship and Champions League.

In the end it was only enough for the national cup competitions, but the fall from an almost historic season to what even Klopp describes as a “low point” was rapid.

Since arriving in England, Klopp has groomed the team for the much-vaunted "heavy metal football" with which Liverpool won the Champions League in 2019 and their first championship in 30 years the following year.

Many of the players who took to the pitch in those triumphs are still key players today.

Critics therefore complain that apart from smaller tactical experiments there has been no further development.

Premier League clubs can sign newcomers until the end of January, but even before the game against Brighton, Klopp reacted angrily when asked about it: "The transfer market is not the solution for us."

Is Klopp's job in jeopardy?

He remains popular with fans: just a few months ago a huge mural of Klopp in a jubilant pose was unveiled - not the first of its kind in the city.

Thanks to his merits over the past seven years, he still has some credit with the American owners.

Klopp's contract runs until the summer of 2026, last April he prematurely extended it by two more years.

His previous stations in Mainz and Dortmund ended after around seven years.

At that time, BVB even slipped down to the relegation zone with its former champion team.

Nevertheless, Klopp didn't want to know anything about an alleged seven-year cycle when he was confronted with it against the background of Liverpool's false start to the season:

Klopp switched from his usual 4-3-3 formation to a 4-1-4-1 against Brighton.

In the television interview after the defeat, he said with a tortured laugh that he had come up with this idea "but to help the team, to be honest".

The plan didn't work out, "we played them right into their hands".

The coach doesn't have much time to work on better ideas.

On Tuesday, Liverpool will meet Wolverhampton in the second leg of the FA Cup, and on Saturday Chelsea, who are also in trouble, will be visiting Anfield.

After all, Klopp finally saw something good about the embarrassment in Brighton: "It shouldn't be too difficult to improve us."