He was, remember, a West Ham United reserve when arriving on Merseyside, unable to oust Hayden Mullins; he will depart in shame, having enraged those who are desperate for Liverpool to succeed; you don’t turn your back on the Red shirt. Ever.

In a show of staggering selfishness, Mascherano plunged Hodgson’s plans into chaos; Christian Poulsen was not fit enough to slot into the position he would have occupied and it meant the manager was forced to play an unfamiliar system. Shame on him.

With this being City’s first home game of the season, this contest was always going to be played in a fervent atmosphere particularly as the home team’s benefactor was sat in the posh seats and there were a number of new faces on show.

What Liverpool needed to do during the opening exchanges was keep City at arms length and stop the home crowd getting excited but, with their scurrying, midfield gremlin absent, Mancini’s expensively assembled team were able to find gaps at will.

Would Mascherano have lost the tackle Lucas did to Yaya Toure in the build up to City’s opening goal? Unlikely. But, unfortunately, Lucas dithered and allowed the Ivorian to feed Adam Johnson and, once that happened, Liverpool were in grave trouble.

Slipping James Milner into a wide open space, the England international squared for Gareth Barry and he did the rest, turning his effort beyond Pepe Reina’s grasp; it was no more than City, for whom Johnson sparkled, deserved.

Rocked back on their heels, Liverpool’s passing lacked cohesion and, most surprisingly, there were several occasions when they lacked organisation – no wonder, then, that every time Hodgson was seen in his technical area he was glowering, scowling and gesticulating.

Given the way form has gone in the fledgling stages of this campaign, you might have anticipated an emphatic response from the Reds after the break but they couldn’t shake themselves from the lethargy which was gripping them.

Sure enough, they fell further behind within seven minutes of the re-start to another scruffy goal; on this occasion, Milner’s corner was met firmly by Micah Richards and his header squirmed past Reina to give City breathing space. Carlos Tevez’s penalty simply added insult to injury.

So, in many ways, it was a night to forget but at least the hurt that was etched on Liverpool’s players showed they cared – which is more than can be said for the man who downed tools.