Fiorentina defeat another wake-up call for Liverpool FC players

It was only an obvious half-time roasting from the Spaniard that roused them to life in the second half, for the torrid time suffered during the first 45 minutes was a return to the lethargic displays against Spurs and Villa, when a collective over-confidence inexorably lead to defeat.

Six successive wins had appeared to build an assurance allied to endeavour that would ensure at least a point from this difficult fixture, but the balance of these two elements had clearly tipped in favour of the former with disastrous consequences.

Although this was arguably the main cause of our defeat, the team were undoubtedly hobbled by the temporary desertion of Rafa's normally infallible tactical instincts on these occasions.

I've lost count of the number of times I've stared in disbelief at the team-sheets for these European away ties, only to be confronted by my own inadequacies as a pundit by another sterling performance on foreign fields.

On this occasion however, feelings of foreboding proved justified as it became apparent that a Brazilian midfield gives as little cover as a Brazilian waxing.

Pairing Aurelio and Lucas as the holding players served only to expose potential weakness; Alonso and Mascherano they're not.

This is not going to descend into another Lucas diatribe, as he has undoubtedly improved this season and proved his worth to the squad; however, it's one thing to play alongside Gerrard or Mascherano, quite another to share the load with a colleague just returned from injury and playing in an unaccustomed position. This was just asking for trouble.

And trouble we got.

Maintaining the 4-2-3-1 formation that has served us so well against lesser opposition meant that our full-backs, both of whom have had superb starts to the season in attacking displays, had their defensive limitations exposed by the lack of cover directly in front of them.

Insua was repeatedly isolated and bypassed, and was probably in shock when dozily playing Jovetic onside. Johnson too was struggling with his positioning, and with Carragher and Skrtel not at their best at present, we looked like shipping throughout the first half.

Given the absence of our Argentinean enforcer, was there not a strong case for reverting to the old faithful 'two banks of four'?

Pairing Gerrard with Lucas in the centre would have brought more resilience and retention of possession, while Kuyt and Benayoun worked the flanks to protect Johnson and Insua.

Babel's pace deployed in support of Torres would have discouraged Fiorentina from pushing too far forward, and their threat would have been lessened.

Simple, to quote those annoying meerkats who seem to have a monopoly on half-time adverts these days.

Thanks to the Champions League format however, not too much damage has been done and the double-header with Lyon will give us the opportunity to recover the damage and potentially set up another rousing night at Anfield when Fiorentina visit on December 9.

This match gave further credence however, to those who would argue that our fringe players are simply not good enough.

This time last year Rafa was being criticised for not knowing his best team; his problem now is that it's all too obvious.