Graeme Souness has insisted Sadio Mane and his Liverpool team-mates did not play with the same hunger against Arsenal.
Liverpool gave away two uncharacteristic goals with Virgil van Dijk and Alisson at fault to gift Arsenal a 2-1 lead after Mane opened the scoring.
The laid-back nature of both goals highlighted the drop-off in form from Liverpool since securing their Premier League crown weeks ago.
Souness highlighted the clash between Mane and Arsenal defender Rob Holding - where the Senegalese was in jovial spirits - as a telling sign of their drop-off in intensity.
“It’s not Liverpool, is it? You asked me before what we were gonna get from Liverpool and I don’t know," he told Sky Sports at half-time.
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"I’ll come back to it; you can’t explain why you just drop off the pace. You’ve never seen Virgil van Dijk make anything remotely like that mistake in two years, but they’ve won the league comfortably.
"They’re waiting to get their hands on the trophy - but they’re not at it. Fabinho, two or three times tonight, has given it away cheaply, which he doesn’t do usually.
"Mane has had a bit of a wrestle with Holding a couple of times. Coming off, Mane’s got a big smile on his face. In normal circumstances, Mane goes to war with you. He’s not smiling at you.
"He can’t wait until the second-half starts again to get at you. They’re in their armchairs."
