The early days of Jurgen Klopp’s reign as Liverpool manager were certainly a rollercoaster ride, to say the least.
Klopp arrived as Brendan Rodgers’ replacement in October 2015 with a big job on his hands. Building one of Europe’s largest footballing institutions back up to competing with the world’s best was the end game. But to get there a number of day-to-day issues needed sorting out.
And just a couple of months into the German's tenure, he was handed a major reality check.
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It was on this day in 2015 that Liverpool were beaten 3-0 at Watford in the Premier League. It was the first time the Reds had face the Hornets for close to nine years and, to their embarrassment, they suffered a reverse of the scoreline of the previous Premier League match between the sides in January 2007.
It truly was a day to forget for Klopp and his players at Vicarage Road. The writing was on the wall from just the third minute when Nathan Ake, the Manchester City centre-back who was then on loan at Watford from Chelsea, opened the scoring. There was major controversy around it, however.
Adam Bogdan was making his league debut for the Reds after replacing the injured Simon Mignolet. And with his very first meaningful action, he dropped the ball at the feet of Ake to score. The goalkeeper did appear, though, to have two hands on the ball before it was kicked away from his grasp and into the net.
It got worse from then on with a brace from future Manchester United striker Odion Ighalo sealing a humiliating if controversial defeat for Liverpool. “In my opinion you have not to save the ball. You have to have both hands on the ball and he had both hands on the ball, so it’s a foul,” Klopp said after the game when asked about Ake's opener.
“But I have to say that we made bigger faults than the ref today. Mistakes, fouls, refs, whatever, can happen. That’s football.
“Our reaction has to be better. We lost our mind after the first goal. We lost our compact formation after the first goal, and we didn’t play easy, as we should have done.”
Klopp would have known he had a job on his hands before making the trip to Vicarage Road. But he would have been under no illusion of the size of the task ahead of him after full-time.
In fact, he would even go so far as to say that the loss was the lowest point of his short time as Liverpool boss. “I would say, hopefully, this is the most disappointing moment in my whole Liverpool FC life, from now,” Klopp admitted.
“We don’t feel good today, of course, because we came here to do something really different to what you saw. There was a big space between what we wanted to do and what you see, and that’s what we have to fill before the next game against Leicester.
“The start we had, that’s what we’ve got to change and it’s not the first time. This time it was not because we were not concentrated, it was really unlucky.
“We all know Adam should fix the first ball and he dropped it (but) afterwards it’s not an open ball any more. If they don’t get this first goal today, then I don’t know what happens but, if you see how we reacted, that’s not the best.”
Bogdan admitted it was not an easy decision for referee Mark Clattenburg to make - as well as acknowledging that it was a mistake on his part that led to the goal. The keeper said: "I had both hands on the ball but we are talking about a split-second. It's not easy for the referee to see. If I catch the first ball, there is no second one.
"Something went wrong, I have to think about it again. It was a mistake and I will learn from it."
Just a month before the defeat to Watford, the Reds had swept aside Manchester City 4-1 at the Etihad Stadium. It was arguably the first real sign of the impact Klopp would go on to have on the team.
But then came a defeat to Newcastle United, a draw with West Brom, before the loss at Watford. “I can’t explain,” Klopp said when asked about the inconsistency. “If I could explain this, do you think we would have done it? No, but we work on it.
“ After Southampton everybody thought ‘wow’, and after Man City. But that was one part of the thing we can do, one side. Now we saw completely the other side. Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. We have to work so that it’s more on the Man City, Southampton and Chelsea performances.
“For example, on the third goal – Emre [Can] made a good game but he had to pass the ball and he lost it. That’s how football is, you make one wrong decision. The same with Adam. It’s no problem.
“You only have to react absolutely maximum, much better. That is what we have to work on. The easy games everybody wins. The difficult games we have to win much more often than we have until now.”
The Liverpool players would have been understandably downbeat after the defeat in Hertfordshire. And perhaps the idea of having the club’s Christmas party that very evening might not have appealed to many.
In fact some may have even expected the occasion to be cancelled in light of the defeat. But Klopp thought differently.
Instead, all of the players received a text from their manager that read: “Whatever we do together we do as well as we can and tonight that means we party.” The players were also told they had to stay until at least 1am.
More than a year later, reflecting on that night, Klopp only really had memories of the Christmas party rather than the Watford match itself. A sign, then, that the evening certainly helped to lift the spirits and bond the group together.
“We had a good Christmas party afterwards, that’s what I remember!” laughed Klopp in April 2017. “I can’t remember what I felt after that game.
“I’m not sure if it was the worst game but it was very bad. I don’t have too many memories of last season’s game so it doesn’t make sense to prepare now with that in mind.”
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