As the final whistle sounded at Goodison Park, Brendan Rodgers' expression was not that of a Liverpool manager satisfied with a decent enough 1-1 draw at a tough opponent and local rival in Everton. Instead, there was a distinct expression of vulnerability.
"There is pressure to sell newspapers and I think there's pressure to make stories in the media and I understand and respect that," Rodgers later told journalists in the Goodison press room. "That's your jobs."
It turned out that Sunday newspaper stories detailing how owners Fenway Sports Group would be wielding the axe were accurate and Rodgers appears to have been among the last to know, or at least to admit his fate.