Bolton Wanderers rocked Rafa Benitez's new-look Liverpool side with a narrow 1-0 victory at the Reebok Stadium.
Benitez brought his two latest signings into his line-up - Luis Garcia who cost £6million from Barcelona and Xabi Alonso who was a £10.7million catch from Real Sociedad.
But there was no starting place for Djibril Cisse, who cost £14million from Auxerre, as he was left on the substitutes bench.
Sam Allardyce relied on the Bolton side that won at Southampton in midweek with Tunisian international Radhi Jaidi making his home debut in the centre of defence in place of Julio Cesar who was on the bench.
Kevin Davies scored his first goal of the season for Bolton in the 37th minute to earn his side their third win of the season against a Liverpool side that looked strangely out of sorts.
But there was a blow for Liverpool on the first minute when Sami Hyypia received a facial injury in a clash with Bolton's Davies. The Liverpool man had lengthy treatment on the pitch, but only lasted until the 13th minute when he was replaced by Djimi Traore.
Liverpool had the first chance of the game when Jay-Jay Okocha lost possession in midfield and Steve Warnock raced away to set up a shooting chance for Milan Baros, who fired wide from a good position.
Another good Liverpool move ended when Dietmar Hamann fired wide from the edge of the Bolton box after Steven Gerrard, Baros and Alonso had linked to set up the opening.
A Gary Speed shot was deflected over the Liverpool crossbar as Bolton tried to make their mark on what was a fairly lifeless encounter.
Jerzy Dudek in the Liverpool goal saved a Stelios Giannakopoulos header after Okocha had worked his magic on the Bolton left, tricking his way past two defenders before crossing.
Bolton continued to press and were rewarded in the 37th minute when a Henrik Pedersen shot from the left eluded a cluster of players in the goalmouth and ran to Davies on the far post, who crashed the ball home from close range.
Liverpool replaced Warnock with Cisse at the interval in a bid to put more bite into an attack that looked disjointed in the first half.
Dudek saved from Davies at full stretch then was on the spot again to collect a dangerous looking long-range effort from Okocha.
A Ivan Campo free-kick headed at goal by Jaidi brought a fingertip stop from Dudek, but Liverpool bounced back and when Gerrard found Garcia on the far post, the Spaniard ought to have done better when he shot well wide.
Garcia was starting to look more lively and had a shot blocked in the Bolton penalty area after being set up by Gerrard.
And in the 81st minute Liverpool thought they had grabbed the equaliser only to be denied by an offside flag after Garcia had beaten Jussi Jaaskelainen from close range.
A Bruno N'Gotty slip in the Bolton defence nearly let in substitute Cisse who shot over after being put through by Garcia.
Liverpool desperately chased the leveler, but were unable to break down a Bolton defence that rarely looked in much trouble.