37 games remain, but Liverpool must improve quickly

This was not what people had expected – certainly not amongst the away section at the Hawthorns. The exorbitance of short-sleeved shirts and shorts seemed a bad choice from the travelling Liverpool contingent: at two o’clock, as the skies turned grey and rain fell over the West Midlands, many wished for a rethink of their choice of attire; at five o’clock, they just wished they had not bothered at all. It was supposed to be the warmest day of the year. It was supposed to be the start of Brendan Rodgers’ Anfield revolution.

The sun eventually shone, but by that time Liverpool were 3-0 behind and withering in the heat. It was a scoreline that perhaps did a disservice to Rodgers’ side though, particularly in the first half. Having produced a controlled performed for 43 minutes - aided by the impressive Joe Allen in midfield - Zoltan Gera’s magnificent strike from 25 yards shifted the balance of the game. Daniel Agger’s red card 12 minutes into the second half and a pair of penalties stopped it dead. The tide had turned with no chance of recovery, both on and off the pitch.

In the stands, optimism swings like a paper pendulum in a hurricane, flitting from side to side with every tackle, pass and goal. The whirlwind of hysteria has already started. With every passing minute that Liverpool remained behind in the game, the more Brendan Rodgers’ appointment became a mistake. It matters not that this game represented just three points of a possible 114 throughout season’s duration, nor the mitigating circumstances dealt by the hand of referee Phil Dowd. In those 90 minutes of football, Liverpool’s fate was sealed, their course unalterable.