Alisson Becker is set to face a spell on the sidelines lasting around six weeks, Jurgen Klopp confirmed over the weekend.
It was news that was only compounded by the defeat to Aston Villa that followed shortly after the extent of the Brazilian's injury was revealed.
If Alisson is out for the entirety of the predicted six weeks, as is likely to be the case, he will miss the first three matches of the Champions League group stage.
Alisson will also be out for the visit to Manchester City in the Premier League - potentially a crucial clash in a campaign unlikely to be as straightforward to navigate as the last one for Klopp's side.
But as well as the obvious cause for concern with regards to the drop in quality whenever Alisson is missing, there is also another worrying impact that the lack of the 28-year-old brings.
On the Blood Red podcast, Ian Doyle explained: "Adrian made a mistake for the first goal against Aston Villa.
"But what that then exposed, I think, is that there are certain players who play a lot better when Alisson is there, and Joe Gomez is almost certainly one of them.
"Klopp said Liverpool didn’t react properly to what happened with the first goal and that’s correct - they could have sorted that out.
"And Gomez did not have a good game - he came off after an hour, a bit of an act of mercy - while Joel Matip is injured and Fabinho doesn’t solve it because he was almost as bad as Gomez in midfield.
*Listen to the latest Blood Red podcast in full by clicking HERE.
"But everyone is just going to have to get on with it. Liverpool won a lot of games last season with him in goal and you have to get back to that, even if it means stepping back two yards and not giving Adrian the ball to his feet.
"They have found solutions to problems in the past and now they have to do it again."
Finding solutions is the only way that Klopp can now go, with no new goalkeeper signed on deadline day. But it's also the only way that he was ever going to choose, with a quick fix in the transfer market never something he has turned to before.
Without Alisson, the Reds boss will have to deal not only without his top goalkeeper, arguably the best in his position in the world, but also the knock-on effect that has on the Liverpool backline.
Without Alisson, Gomez was the most startled against Aston Villa, but he was far from the only one. And Liverpool have just two weeks, with most players away on international duty, to rediscover that equilibrium.
