It has been a particularly tough day for Chelsea's Antonio Conte.
Learning of the tragic death of a former player in Italy's Davide Astori this morning, the afternoon's defeat to Manchester City will no doubt pale in comparison to the devastating loss of the 31-year-old defender.
Scrutinising Chelsea's performance was nonetheless a job for fans and pundits alike; by and large, the reaction was fairly merciless.
Ridiculed in the wake of their extremely cautious approach to facing Pep Guardiola's side, Sky Sports' Jamie Redknapp went so far as to describe the performance as "a crime against football":
That was such a hard watch, that was anti-football.
I was really looking forward to this game today. I understand 'okay we won't play with a striker, let's be difficult to beat,' but you have to have some intent.
Suggesting that Chelsea had conceded three points to the hosts before even kicking a ball, the Chelsea boss was faced with Redknapp's criticisms in his post-match conference:
I'm not so stupid to play open against Manchester City and lose 3-0 or 4-0. If I remember well, three days ago, Arsenal played twice against City and then you criticised Arsene Wenger because they conceded three goals in only 30 minutes.
The pundit has to use the head to understand when you speak about tactics, because I think you must have knowledge to speak about tactics and not only to speak in a stupid way.
No doubt comfortable in his experience of having managed Juventus, Italy and now Chelsea, it is certainly intriguing to consider Conte's 'damned if you, damned if you don't' approach to dealing with such pundits.
Having come so close to beating Barcelona in the first-leg of their last-16 Champions League tie already, the second-leg now awaits. With so much doubt circling Conte's remaining time with the club, it would scarcely be surprising if the Italian leaves last year's Premier League winners sooner rather than later.
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