After more than seven years at Liverpool, and twice as long again as manager elsewhere, there's very little Jurgen Klopp won't have seen or said during his time in the hotseat.
And as he sifts through the wreckage of another dismal performance from his players, the Reds boss will no doubt have been mindful of two of his previous quips.
"We really want to be the ugliest team to play against," he said back during the opening weeks of the 2018/19 season. "None of the results we have this season would have been possible without the greed you have seen or without the aggression you see. No chance."
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Then, of course, there was what Klopp said when he was unveiled as Reds boss back in 2015.
"The first thing, always, maybe in life, you need to have a stable defence," he said. “If it’s possible, can we be the hardest team to beat in the world? Let’s try to be this."
Liverpool at present are far removed from being either. Instead of the hardest team to face in the Premier League, let alone the world, the Reds are currently one of the easiest. And, for their suffering supporters at least, they have become extremely ugly to watch rather than play against.
Klopp, speaking on Friday, insists there is no problem with the attitude or body language of his squad during training. The concern now, though, is whether the message is being put across properly or, more worryingly, if the players even have belief in the methods and are paying full attention.
However, it could just be that those available are simply not capable enough. "The opposite of what we wanted to do," said Klopp of the two goals in the opening 12 minutes that sent Wolverhampton Wanderers on their way to victory on Saturday, hinting that how Liverpool prepared wasn't followed. The occasional lapse is permitted, yes - the fault lines, though, travel deep into this increasingly tortuous campaign.
The resilience and intensity for which Liverpool became famed - 'mentality monsters', don't forget - have been sorely lacking, Alisson Becker suggesting the team is missing some of its bigger personalities. Indeed, despite the travails of earlier in the campaign, the Reds will surely be more steeled with the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino on which to call.
The lack of a leader in the heart of defence was noted by former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, who suggested centre-backs be judged when they have to lead themselves. Neither Joel Matip nor Joe Gomez, despite more than 14 years of experience combined at Anfield, demonstrated the qualities that are evident in the absent Van Dijk, Konate and, as was shown two seasons ago, the benched Nat Phillips.
And the troubles on the road are particularly untimely given the fixture list the Reds have been asked to negotiate since the World Cup. In 17 matches from the resumption of the season to the Champions League round of 16 second leg tie at Real Madrid, 11 will have been away. Having won just four of 10 on the road beforehand - and one of those was at a neutral venue in the Community Shield - it's therefore no surprise to see the Reds now floundering in mid-table.
Saturday's 3-0 reverse at Molineux sent Liverpool tumbling to a sixth defeat in 10 Premier League away games this season. For context, in the previous four campaigns they only lost nine such games in total - and two of those came after they had already sealed the championship in 2019/20.
A third successive away league defeat was their first such slump under Klopp and their worst run since they lost four in a row towards the end of the 2011/12 campaign. And not since December 1993 had Liverpool conceded three goals in three successive away games.
Even the statistics referring to Wolves alone make for grim reading. The Midlands side hadn't won at home in the league against Liverpool since 1981, and had failed to score more than once in such a fixture in more than 42 years. And having netted just six times in 10 Premier League home games before Saturday, they had increased that tally by 50% come full-time.
The only Premier League clean sheet Liverpool have kept on the road since the end of last April was a drab goalless Goodison derby draw against Everton in September. In the same period, Arsenal have kept seven such shut-outs, Newcastle United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur five each, Manchester City four and Manchester United three.
Small wonder Liverpool trail those teams in the table. Klopp knows the uncomfortable truth for his players is they have no option but to turn ugly once again - but for all the right reasons.
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