Trent Alexander-Arnold admits Liverpool have this season fallen into the trap of forgetting some of the fundamentals that helped them dominate England, Europe and the world in the previous two years.
The Reds are on a dreadful run of form that has effectively ended their title defence and put Champions League qualification in serious doubt.
Saturday's forgettable 2-0 derby defeat to Everton means Liverpool have now lost four successive home league games for the first time since 1923 and four consecutive Premier League matches for the first time since 2002.
And Alexander-Arnold has pointed the finger at an incorrect assumption that fortunes would naturally change because of previous successes under Jurgen Klopp.
"The trap we have probably fallen into this season is that we've almost expected to win games on some occasions because we know we have the quality to find that goal from somewhere," he said.
"That happened naturally last season and the season before. But, breaking it down, it didn't just happen because we were lucky - it happened because we were still working hard, we were doing the basics and the fundamentals right until the very last minute and that really worked in our favour.
"The fact that we were still doing those things meant that we would still create the right opportunities and we wouldn't be forcing passes, but we'd still stick to our way and would create something we could score from.
"I think this season we've maybe forgotten a few of those fundamentals and we've kind of just expected to do that because it became so natural for us."
Alexander-Arnold has struggled for form this season having been sidelined after contracting coronavirus and later suffering a calf problem.
He was, though, the Reds best performer at the weekend and believes he is starting to rediscover his verve and rhythm.
"This has been something of a spell of bad form that I haven't really had before," said the defender, speaking to the official Liverpool FC matchday programme. "It's always been quite good in the past, so this is new.
"But I set targets and levels and have expectations of myself. If I don't meet them then I'm not happy and when I do meet them, then I am.
"I haven't been able to meet them this season but there's still a long way to go and during the last few games I've felt better, felt a bit more in rhythm, been able to create things for the team and feel like I have been in the last few season.
"But the individual side doesn't matter as much to me as winning games. You have 38 games in a season so there are still many more to come."
