The Manchester City slump continues. It is now four straight defeats in the Premier League and no win in seven in all competitions. It is not quite seven straight defeats, after that 3-3 draw with Feyenoord in the Champions League in midweek.
But that should not be seen as a success given City were 3-0 up in the match, only to concede three times in the final 17 minutes.
Defeat to Liverpool, however, leaves them well behind in the Premier League title race. City are 11 points adrift of the Reds and sitting fifth in the standings. They are now trailing Arsenal, who went through their own sticky spell of four games without a win in the Premier League.
There had been plenty of speculation surrounding Pep Guardiola 's future at the Etihad Stadium, particularly after saying in the summer: "The reality is I'm closer to leaving than to staying." However, he appeared to shut down any talk of his future by signing a new two-year contract to stay at City at the end of November.
Speaking after signing the deal, Guardiola said: "I felt I could not leave now. Maybe the four defeats was why. I think we deserve, after four defeats in a row, to bounce back and try to turn the situation. I think we deserve to be here. I am not arrogant to say, but it's the truth."
Guardiola has not been able to turn things around since signing that new deal and if anything things have got worse, considering the Liverpool defeat. Towards the end of the match at Anfield, the Reds supporters taunted the Spaniard with "you're getting sacked in the morning" chants.
And Guardiola's response was telling and may have offered us all a hint as to when he will leave Manchester City, if not of his own accord then by force.
Guardiola responded by making a 'six' gesture to the Anfield crowd, for every Premier League title he has won. That is a move straight out of the Jose Mourinho book of management.
Mourinho has done it twice before - that we can remember. Once to journalists when he demanded more respect from them during a tricky spell as Manchester United manager in the 2018/19 season, saying: "Just to finish. Do you know what was the result? 3-0. Do you know what this means? 3-0, but also means three Premierships and I won more Premierships alone than the other 19 managers together."
He also did it to the Chelsea fans that taunted him during a game later in that campaign. Then it was to remind them how many titles he won while he was Blues boss, as if they could forget.
Mourinho then was a man under pressure and was acting out. He lasted less than four months as United manager after showing his fingers to the journalists on that first occasion and was gone from Old Trafford barely two months after the gesture to the Chelsea supporters.
There are no suggestions that Guardiola will be sacked, particularly so soon after the owners have given him a new contract, but the gesture could well be a hint that the end is nigh for Guardiola at City, if he is emulating Mourinho while feeling the pressure.
And when he departs that will leave the rest of the Premier League licking their lips that an era of dominance has finally come to an end.