Liverpool made a nightmarish start to their Premier League clash against Southampton on Monday night.The Reds faced a tough trip to St. Mary's Stadium, granted, but it presented a clear opportunity for Jurgen Klopp's men to regain the initiative in one of the most open title races in recent years.However, true to Liverpool's recent problems against teams outside of the division's traditional 'big six' clubs, there were teething problems in the opening seconds on the south coast.
Southampton vs Liverpool
In fact, Southampton took the lead within the first two minutes and the fact it was scored by someone who used to don the famous red jersey wasn't the most painful detail about it.
That's because Trent Alexander-Arnold was at fault for the phase of play mere seconds before Ings was able to loop a fantastic finish over the head of Alisson Becker.
Fans across Twitter were left to bemoan the latest defensive error in a shaky start to the season for the England international as James Ward-Prowse's free-kick wormed its way into the box.
Ings opens the scoring
Ings couldn't believe his luck as Alexander-Arnold failed to deal with the ball, seemingly getting his legs in a tangle and giving his former teammate acres of space to provide the killer finish.
As the Liverpool players will know better than most from Ings' time at Melwood, the Premier League Golden Boot contender knows where the back of the net is, so check out his pinpoint finish below:
Was it a free-kick?
It's not one that Trent will be wanting to see back, that's for sure, but make no mistake that one of the world's best full-backs has all the tools to bounce back in style.
However, the error aside, there were plenty of fans, both Liverpool-leaning and otherwise, who didn't think that the free-kick should have been given in the first place.
The returning Thiago Alcantara, making just his fourth appearance for the Premier League champions, looked to have been hard done by when he was booked for the offending foul.
It just goes to that even seemingly innocuous moments in England's top-flight can trigger a hectic series of events at the best of times, never mind when the table is more bunched up than ever.