Liverpool's new owners insisted on Saturday that Roy Hodgson's job is safe and vowed he would be given time to turn around the club's dismal start to the season.
After hearing their manager describe Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Everton as "our best performance of the season", John W. Henry and Tom Werner could be forgiven for already changing their minds.
So much for the feel-good factor in the red half of Merseyside, so much for that fresh start and stability after the end of a courtroom drama to rival anything that could be dreamed up in Hollywood.
This was reality brought into sharp focus for everyone who cares about Liverpool. The club's dire straits on the pitch will take more than a change of ownership to resolve – certainly a change of playing personnel and maybe a new manager.
Werner, the chairman of New England Sports Ventures, who bought the Merseyside club for £300 million at the end of last week, has already talked about providing Hodgson with funds to invest in the side when the January transfer window opens.
But just how long does the former Fulham manager have to arrest a depressing slide that leaves his team 19th in the Premier League on six points, having recorded just one victory from their eight league outings this season.
The trope coming out of the NESV camp ever since their bid for the club was first made public just under two weeks ago is that they are 'winners', that second best is not enough. How does a relegation battle sound, then?
'Going down, going down' chanted the gleeful Everton supporters, all the more poignant a reminder to Henry as he sat in the stands of his new acquisition's bitter local rivals. Maybe he bought the wrong Merseyside club.
Nearly a quarter of the season gone and Liverpool are down there cavorting with the likes of West Ham, Wolves and Birmingham. Even a baseball fan must know they are in a relegation scrap.
When NESV bought the Boston Red Sox in 2002, they wasted little time in firing the general manager and the manager, a ruthless decision but one that set them on the path to two World Series victories after 86 years in the wilderness. More results like this and surely Henry's hand will start twitching on the trigger. The question is, how long can he afford to wait?
People say that little can be gleaned from local derbies, but it is not the result that will be worrying Liverpool supporters but the performance. No ideas, no inspiration, no guile and limited passion, despite a to-be-expected rally after they fell two behind.
What needs to be ascertained is who is more to blame; the manager or the players.
Hodgson certainly does himself no favors by suggesting that performances like Sunday's are in any way impressive. As individuals the players tried to battle, but as a collective team there was a distinct lack of passion, drive or spirit.
It was an approach to the game that allowed Everton to swarm all over their visitors in the first 30 minutes like bees after honey, denying the Liverpool players time to play the ball and build moves together. After a few half chances early on, Cahill's opener was almost inevitable.
That Hodgson cited his side's comparatively gung-ho approach in the second half also demonstrates a misunderstanding of the game. Everton were quite happy to sit deep, soak up the pressure and play on the counter-attack, asking Liverpool if they had a way past them. The answer was emphatic: they didn't. Never did Tim Howard's goal look under any serious threat as Steven Gerrard and Co. toiled to no avail.
To his credit, Hodgson made his substitutions earlier than in previous matches, but he needs to take note of what everyone keeps telling him; that Liverpool are not Fulham, that draws are not good enough, that uninspiring defensive tactics are not acceptable. He may be a veteran at 63, but the best managers, even the oldest and wisest, are able to adapt.
Not that it looks like happening any time soon. “It is insulting to suggest that because you move to a new club, your methods suddenly don’t work when they’ve held you in good stead for 35 years and made you one of the most respected coaches in Europe,” said Hodgson earlier this season. “It’s unbelievable.”
Hodgson will argue that he needs time – eight games is not enough to put his stamp on the team – and more importantly a transfer window to turn the club's fortunes around.
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