Liverpool's shaky start to the season registered even higher on the richter scale on Wednesday night as they were thrashed by Napoli in the Champions League.

The first 45 minutes proved to be one of the worst halves in the Jurgen Klopp era as the Italians rattled three past the hapless Liverpool rearguard to all but kill the game off before the break.

The body language of the Liverpool stars as Napoli drove home their second has fans seriously concerned over what may lie ahead.

It was just the latest in a string of thoroughly underwhelming performances from the Reds who have looked woefully off colour at the start of their campaign.

They are already well off the pace in the Premier League title race and with further tricky clashes ahead on the European front, it does seem as though the storm clouds are darkening by the day.

Jamie Carragher superbly summed up the troubles in the Liverpool rearguard while on punditry for CBS Sports.

NAPLES, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 07: (L-R) Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Fabinho of Liverpool look dejected after Piotr Zielinski (not pictured) of SSC Napoli scores their team's fourth goal during the UEFA Champions League group A match between SSC Napoli and Liverpool FC at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on September 07, 2022 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)

Jamie Carragher on Liverpool's struggles

"They’ve built their success on intensity on the ball, which means their opposition can’t get their head up to put the ball over.

"So your team is always tight and always really compact, always a risk, but you’ve got energy on the ball. That energy is not there now. So that back-four has to adapt.

“If they keep playing that [high line] they are going to have a big problem, in terms of the Premier League this season and qualifying for the next round of the Champions League.”

Carragher isn't the only Liverpool alum who has aired his concerns with former midfielder Dietmar Hamann taking to social media to criticise the club for their current struggles.

Didi Hamann takes aim at Pep Lijnders

Hamann's ire, however, was directed in a very different direction as he bemoaned Liverpool's decision to allow assistant manager Pep Lijnders to write a book while still employed by the club.

Lijnder's book, titled 'Intensity: Inside Liverpool' was released this year much to the apparent disgust of Hamann.

Taking to Twitter, Hamann penned a simple message:

"The alarm bells should have been ringing for Liverpool fans when the current assistant manager wrote a book while still employed by the club. How he was allowed to do it I’m not too sure..."

Does he have a point?

The timing of the book does seem strange but surely it can't be the reason for Liverpool's alarming dip in form.

Perhaps the brutal disappointment of the final week of last season took more of a toll than Klopp and co realised but to blame it all on a book seems somewhat far-fetched.