Liverpool succumbed to their third successive home defeat in Sunday's 4-1 defeat to Manchester City, and Alan Shearer and Jermaine Jenas agree that post-Covid football has not suited the Reds.
Liverpool fell 10 points behind City in their attempted title defence as Alisson Becker committed two key mistakes in a disappointing second half at Anfield.
The Reds now face a difficult close to the season, with Jurgen Klopp admitting that a top-four finish is the team's focus during the final stages of the campaign.
And on Liverpool's issues this season, both Shearer and Jenas agree that having no fans at matches impacts the performance level of the defending champions and that Virgil van Dijk's absence from the team is a major problem.
"There are so many factors with the Liverpool one," Jenas told Match of the Day. "Obviously, that place, Anfield, is just sacred. Al, you've said yourself being in that ground when they beat Barcelona was probably the most special atmosphere you've been involved in.
"Van Dijk not being there, the heights that they hit last year as well, it was always going to be difficult for them to maintain. But it's definitely a factor (no fans)."
Shearer agreed.
"They are human. They are players who also suffer crises in confidence, and there's one or two who are doing that," he added.
"They've lost their most influential player, they've lost their crowd - and you can imagine the crowd when Man City miss that penalty and when Liverpool get the equaliser. That place would have been rocking, so they've missed that, there's no doubt about it."
Shearer also questioned Liverpool's creativity, an issue that has been especially prevalent at home with just two goals in their last five home games, with three of those coming against bottom-six opponents.
He explained: "Also their creativity - I mean, they had one chance in the first half with the Mane header. They were gifted the goal they got in the second half. Other than that, Man City were worthy winners in the second half.
"There wasn't a lot in it in the first half. In the second half, when Pep had slightly changed it to a 4-4-2 at times, Man City were much the better team."
When asked if Liverpool's title defence is over, Shearer simply said: "Yeah, I'd agree with that."
The statistics also illustrate Liverpool's difficulties post-lockdown.
Since August 2019, Liverpool averaged 2.8 points per game pre-lockdown and 1.8 points per game post-lockdown. The only other team with a greater drop in points per game from pre to post-lockdown is Sheffield United, who currently sit bottom of the Premier League.
Meanwhile, Van Dijk has not featured since the Merseyside Derby having undergone knee surgery for ligament damage. Klopp previously admitted that the defender is unlikely to return before the end of the season.
