Ruben Amorim may have only been half-joking when he claimed the strains of managing Manchester United were already showing on his youthful features.
Before his first visit to Anfield, the 39-year-old has not so much had a new head-coach bounce as a flatline of failure, with five defeats in eight Premier League games since he succeeded Erik ten Haag at Old Trafford in November.
And Amorim's message before Sunday's visit to rampant Liverpool was hardly a rallying cry to fire up the troops as he claimed United's players were "anxious - sometimes afraid."
Not exactly fighting talk for what is, arguably, currently the European game's toughest assignment, a meeting with a Liverpool side racing clear at the top of the Premier League and carrying all before them in the Champions League.