Liverpool’s issues on the field were mirrored off it as a mechanical problem with the team’s plane meant they were unable to leave Merseyside on time for the Champions League trip to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Head coach Arne Slot, who is seeking to prevent the club losing a fifth successive match for the first time in 73 years, and midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai were due to address the media at Deutsche Bank Park at 7.30pm local time.
However, 40 minutes before the scheduled start the club cancelled their press conference as they had not yet left the country.
They eventually took off at 7.51pm for their 80-minute flight, ensuring they arrived before Frankfurt airport closed for arrivals at 11pm local time, but Slot insists it will not affect their preparations.
“No, it will not impact the build-up to tomorrow’s game,” he told UEFA.com.
“We have trained over here at the AXA. Normally we would have gone to Frankfurt a few hours earlier, now we are a few hours later.
“That can never be an excuse for the game tomorrow.”
It may be a little early to call it a crisis but Slot is struggling to integrate the £450million of talent he bought in the summer into a team which comfortably won the Premier League last season.
It is uncharted territory for midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai, who said the players had discussions among themselves about how to turn around a season which began with seven successive wins.
“We have to stick together. We had a lot of meetings, we spoke with each other and the most important thing is we stay together when it is a hard time,” said the Hungary captain.
“This will turn. If you work hard and keep going the luck will go on your side.
“We have to take the three points for sure but most important we have to show the character we have, what Liverpool can do and what we are able to do.”
Midfielder Ryan Gravenberch did not travel with the squad, having missed training earlier in the day with an ankle injury sustained in the defeat to Manchester United.
That will force at least one change on Slot and while he has heard the clamour for rotation – most significantly for a mis-firing Mohamed Salah – the Dutchman insists there has to be a plan behind it.
“Rotate always comes across like ‘Ah, let someone else play a little bit’, but as I’ve said before we have many good players and I can use them all and if you play three games in seven days it would maybe be smart to use them all,” he added.
Striker Hugo Ekitike looks set to start against the club he left in the summer, along with £100m signing Florian Wirtz and his Bayer Leverkusen team-mate Jeremie Frimpong as all were substitutes at the weekend.
“I think it is always special for every player if you go to one of your former clubs, especially if you did really well,” said Slot on Ekitike.
“Special for him, special for Florian as well to go back to Germany, special for Jeremie Frimpong because like Florian and Hugo he was successful in Germany.”
Frankfurt head coach Dino Toppmoller, son of Klaus who was coach of Bayer Leverkusen when they beat Liverpool in the 2002 quarter-finals, played down their opponents’ poor run of form.
“Liverpool are lacking that little bit of energy at the moment, for whatever reason,” he told a press conference.
“They have been the better team in every game they have played recently and have had the better chances. We will face a world-class team.”
