Time was ticking down as Jurgen Klopp span around to look away from the action, as if his attention had been diverted.
Liverpool were grimly holding on to three points against Nottingham Forest but it had been another confusing afternoon, with the good moments offset by indecision, and many of those in the Main Stand had begun to leave.
This was not the kind of wide-scale dispersal that had been evident last autumn when Leeds beat Klopp’s team or when they had fortuitously drawn against Brighton but it was sufficiently noticeable and the manager appeared to be taken aback.