Liverpool hero John Aldridge has big concerns for manager Jurgen Klopp and his team after Saturday's 3-0 defeat at Brighton.

Writing for the Sunday World, Aldridge declared: "There is no bigger supporter of Klopp than me, but plenty of people were suggesting he looked very flat in his press conference on Friday, which was unlike him.

"He got annoyed when he was asked a question about Liverpool's transfer funds and there must be a concern that this great manager is losing faith with the game he is trying to play.

"Competing against clubs with vastly bigger bank balances must be tiring and looking at the team he sent into battle yesterday, some of his players are as flat as their manager appears to be.

"Top players should not need a word in their ear to get them fired up, but too many Liverpool players are under-performing this season and just for once, Klopp doesn't seem to have the answers.

"You look at guys like Thiago Alcantara and Mohamed Salah and they are not playing at the level we know they are capable of.

"What we get with Thiago too often is the kind of game we witnessed at Brighton, as he struggled to get involved and had no impact.

"Maybe the philosophy Klopp's demands at Liverpool doesn't suit him or English football, in general, is just a bit too fast for him, but Thiago is not doing what we know he can do in this team.

"Salah is another concern because he has been off the pace for most of this season.

"With so many forward players out, Liverpool need their biggest earner to step up and lead this team, but he lacked the service to trouble Brighton and didn't seem to be able to get into the game at any point.

"In truth, it feels wrong to pick out Thiago and Salah for criticism because every Liverpool player was poor at Brighton and if you asked me to name anyone who came out of it with credit, I couldn't.

"Liverpool are now in a very dark place."