It wasn't just the respective forward lines who failed to turn up for the tortuous goalless draw between Liverpool and Chelsea last Saturday.
Behind the Kop roughly an hour before kick-off, there were as usual thousands of home supporters milling around as they prepared to enter Anfield for what transpired to be 90-odd minutes of bitterly cold nothingness.
None, though, appeared to be protesting against Fenway Sports Group. At least not as a collective.
READ MORE: Robbie Fowler identifies biggest issue behind Cody Gakpo struggles as Liverpool truth emerges
READ MORE: Cody Gakpo wants Liverpool 'accident' and addresses position change after transfer
Rarely has the disconnect between social media and real life been made more glaringly apparent than the complete absence of the planned demonstration calling for the owners to leave the club that had supposedly gained much traction on Twitter on other such platforms.
Indeed, the home supporters not chained to their phones - and that represents a weighty percentage - would have been totally oblivious to the intentions. Hence the protest being even more of a damp squib than the game it preceded.
This would not have been worthy of mention had it not been followed during the week by criticism on social media of the Liverpool supporters' union Spirit of Shankly after they joined forces with their Manchester United counterparts to demand stricter governance over who is allowed to own football clubs in the United Kingdom.
The Premier League's biggest two institutions are both on the market at present, with SOS mindful of Liverpool falling into what they believe are "improper hands". And that has been enough to further stir an online fanbase perturbed by the Reds' on-field slump being exacerbated by rival clubs spending heavily in the transfer market. They say the group does not speak for them.
Predominantly, these supporters want more money for new signings. And while links to endless riches from the likes of Saudi Arabia and Qatar are enthusing such fans, for SOS they highlight a moral quandary concerning the origin of the funds. They don't want Liverpool to follow the path of Manchester City and Newcastle United and be fully or majority state-owned.
And those questioning why a collective so against the Conservative Party would write to the current government are perhaps overlooking to whom else they could open relevant discourse.
SOS, like any group, cannot speak for everyone. That is impossible. But the alternative to such supporter groups is having nobody speak for anyone at all. And it's worth remembering why the SOS came into being - to strengthen and mobilise the opposition to the destructive ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
The beliefs of the SOS are explained in their name, following the ethos inspired by Bill Shankly, the first Liverpool manager to connect strongly with and actively embrace the fanbase. And while football is almost unrecognisable from the 1960s and 1970s - there were no state-owned clubs in those days and the Reds' record transfer when Shankly left was £180,000 - the essence, both in the heart of the club and its fanbase, remains the same. They are strongly linked to the traditions of the city.
It underlines a previous insistence supporters broadly fit into one of five distinct bands, none of which is better or worse than the others. They are, though, all different.
The first group contain the "hardcore", those who attempt to follow Liverpool at every game both home and abroad. This is a select group of a few thousand, and from where SOS came into being. Then come the "regulars", the season ticket holders and members who try to attend at least every home game, even if the latter aren't always successful in their application.
Next are the "irregulars", those who, for whatever reason, are unable to turn up every other week but are invested sufficiently to attend at least one game every two or three years. The fourth group are the "can'ts", supporters who would love to watch the Reds but are thwarted by issues of finance, availability or geography. These represent the majority of the club's worldwide fanbase.
And then there is the final group - the "won'ts". These are fans who make little to no effort to attend a game and restrict their support to watching on television.
There is a very good argument to suggest those in the fourth group are arguably the most dedicated fans of all, certainly in terms of the money they pump into the club regards merchandise.
But without doubt the loudest noise on social media is made by the final group who, by definition, are the furthest removed from the actualities of what happens at Anfield and the city of Liverpool in general. For them, points scored over their friends or online adversaries are just as important as those earned in the Premier League, and the proliferation of social media means they are gaining far more influence than they actually merit, often setting an angry agenda that doesn't exist.
The lack of protest on Saturday was evidence of that, leading to accusations rather than having genuine concern FSG are destroying the club and their ambitions, it was instead a group of people irked Liverpool appear not to be signing a midfielder this month.
Of course, this is not to denigrate social media, the power of which has previously helped shape required change at Liverpool. Indeed, it was particularly useful in the wake of FSG's plans to enter the proposed European Super League in April 2021. With no supporters allowed in the stadiums at the time due to the ongoing lockdown, the relentless negative feedback from people's homes was sufficient to prompt a very swift apology from John Henry as Liverpool backed away from the foolish initiative.
But, under normal circumstances, ultimately those who attend Anfield regularly possess the greatest influence. Witness the 77th-minute walkout in February 2016 from around 10,000 fans in protest at the planned huge increase in ticket prices in the new Main Stand. FSG took note, and within days the decision was reversed.
Every single Liverpool fan, no matter how many games they attend or where they are in the world, wants the same thing - the team to win trophies and have sufficient funds to compete for the best players in the transfer market. How that is best achieved, though, is the conundrum with which supporters are now having to grapple.
The online chatter will remain just words, however. The Spirit of Shankly supporters' group have made an actual move they believe can help safeguard the future of Liverpool. The actions or otherwise of those in and around Anfield in the coming months will ultimately determine whether they are speaking for the collective.
READ NEXT:
Jurgen Klopp has a simple answer to why Mohamed Salah and Liverpool are 'suffering'
Real Madrid 'went crazy' when Liverpool beat Manchester United to teenage star of Spanish academy
Jurgen Klopp has already sent a £250m message to FSG that can speed up Liverpool rebuild
Jurgen Klopp gives strong response to questions about Liverpool players' attitude
Moises Caicedo 'set to miss' Liverpool FA Cup tie after Brighton respond to transfer message
