Coming into this week's Ryder Cup, many had suggested that the Americans would have far too much fire power for the Europeans at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club.
Looking at both teams, it was clear that the US had more depth in terms of proven top level performers. Europe had some big hitters in the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, and Viktor Hovland, but there were questions marks around some of the more inexperienced members of the team.
However, that is not the way things turned out once the event got underway in Rome.
Having had a dream start on the opening day, Europe always looked like they were destined to win the Ryder Cup. They performed brilliantly throughout, feeding off the energy brought by a raucous home crowd. In contrast, the Americans could never really get going prior to today's singles.
Some now believe that they set themselves up for failure with their behaviour in recent weeks.
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Sky Sports pundits hammer American Ryder Cup team
Playing at home is a huge advantage in the Ryder Cup. Not only will your players be more familiar with their surroundings, but you can also set the course up in a manner that suits your team.
While the Americans were at a disadvantage in this regard, they also did very little to try and minimise the impact of that dynamic. Very few of their players bothered to test out the Italian course ahead of time, while quite a few of them also took lengthy spells off in the weeks before the event.
Speaking on Sky Sports, both Nick Faldo and Laura Davies heavily criticised both the American players and their captain Zach Johnson for the attitude they brought to this year's Ryder Cup.
Davies: It's obvious that it was their preparation, their lack of play before they came here. I think has hurt them because they got off to such a slow start.
Today they were magnificent, they had a really good run from an almost impossible position, but the damage was done. 0-4 on Friday morning, you very rarely get away with that...
You'd have to say it's potentially weak captaincy there, but the players shouldn't have to be cajoled, they should want to come here and be ready to go.
Maybe because they won so easily (in 2021) and there was a lot of those players that played on that one they thought 'it will be a breeze, we will go to Europe, play the golf course and win the trophy'. At that top level sport, if you don't prepare correctly you're not going to do anything. Maybe that was their undoing...
Faldo: Zach [Johnson] took a risk with his six picks. I said right form the day they were picked that when they play great they're great, but all of them were running hot and cold. He left out Lucas Glover who just won two tournaments, I'm sure he's hurting over that.
They knew that the schedule had a four or five week gap, so do something about that. Nobody would take five weeks off before a major, never. You've got to get out there to get the rust off...
If you've got to say 'guys, I really want you to make an effort'? It's a free trip to Rome, you can come and play to get prepared, have some beautiful food and enjoy the historic scenery. I wouldn't mind that.
Whether they thought they could waltz over here because they're bigger and stronger, I don't know. They got a nasty shock because Europe were physically, mentally, and technically prepared.
That is certainly an interesting point from the pair.
Expecting to turn up and win on and hostile territory having done the bare minimum in terms of preparation was always going to make retaining the Ryder Cup a very difficult prospect for the Americans.
Playing at home in 2025, they will certainly be looking to avoid making the same mistakes on that occasion.
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