It's been a rotten campaign for Jurgen Klopp - but things got even worse this weekend for the Liverpool boss, who watched on glumly as his side were dumped out of the FA Cup by Brighton.
The Reds were undone by a last-gasp winner from Karou Mitoma on the south coast just a fortnight after Roberto De Zerbi's side had ran riot against them in the Premier League.
And with Liverpool miles off the pace in the league, Sunday's result effectively means the Champions League will be the only prize Klopp's side are competing for during the second half of the season - just months after they came close to landing an unprecedented quadruple.
Liverpool are now ninth in the Premier League and have won just once in their last six outings; a plight few people would have predicted a few months back. The Reds chief was forced to scotch talk earlier in the season that he would walk away from Anfield after people noticed similarities between the Reds' current run and the circumstances surrounding his exits from previous clubs.
The German's stance hasn't changed - but he did admit that he was fortunate to have plenty of credit in the bank and that another manager might not have been quite as fortunate following Liverpool's recent run.
"I didn’t become a bad manager overnight. I was never as good as people probably said or not as bad as some people might think," he said after Sunday's defeat.
"But imagine if you were here today talking to another coach of Liverpool because last season we’d won all four trophies and I said ‘see you later, holiday!’ “Imagine if you see a different face and he has to explain these things and he tells you how it is. Nobody would listen!
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"They’d say last season was great and this year is not great - so go! You have to have wide shoulders and really just take it. It’s tough, I’m sorry. But we will go for it with all we have to get out of it and then play in a way that the people can’t wait to go to the stadium again."
Klopp only put pen to paper on a two-year contract extension back in April, meaning he is tied down until the summer of 2026.
The German has already outlined that he plans to return to his homeland once his Anfield tenure is over and it is widely known that the club previously came to an agreement over a clause in Klopp's contract that will effectively ensure they help him to facilitate a move to Germany when the time comes.
Such a clause underlines how deep the respect between Klopp and the club runs. And although there is bound to be a smooth transition when that relationship ends, Klopp is seemingly giving no thought to Germany or anywhere else right now.
Crucially, he also retains the full support of both the Anfield hierarchy and the fans and is focused on putting things right. He said in conclusion on Sunday: "Hopefully we can get through this together and get much closer again. From there we all know anything can happen."
