Just to add to the above, the 0815 Liverpool - Crewe and 1110 Crewe - Liverpool are both showing on 'Journey Check' as being cancelled due to a fault on the train, and RTT goes so far as to specify, for the 0815, a fault with the traction equipment. (On RTT, the 1110 ex-Crewe is currently showing as operational).
I don't find the above explanation particularly convincing, tbh, since there would have been plenty of time from 0815 to 1110 to get a healthy EMU (or even healthy DMU) from Allerton to Crewe, or, for that matter, a healthy unit from pretty well anywhere else to, say, Piccadilly/Oxford Road.