Few things in life can be more awkward than sitting next to your new boss while 3,000 malcontents bellow abuse at him. On the bright side, at least this was a crash course in the modern Chelsea for Liam Rosenior.

The new head coach saw poor defending undermine flashes of defiance, witnessed his erratic side collect their eighth red card of the season, and heard the away end at Craven Cottage spend much of the second half aim mutinous chants in the direction of Behdad Eghbali, the club’s co-controlling owner.

Perhaps they underestimated Harrison Reed. Certainly there was little reaction when the ball came back to the Fulham substitute with 97 ­minutes gone. Liverpool ­simply stood off, almost daring Reed to shoot, and they rued their lack of urgency when one of Fulham’s more unfashionable ­players rescued a point for Marco ­Silva’s ­stubborn side by ­ripping a stunning shot into ­Alisson’s top corner.

It was a jawdropping moment – after all, it was only the scurrying 30-year-old midfielder’s fourth goal in six years in west London – and it spoke to some of Liverpool’s issues this season. The champions were vague in attack despite scoring twice and, where once there was the determination to force themselves over the line, here there was only defensive inertia when the task was to hold on after going 2-1 up through Cody Gakpo in the fourth minute of ­stoppage time.