Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina pulls at his gloves after another training session has ended and throws them down disapprovingly, before reflecting on his side's start to the season, which has already seen them suffer defeats to both Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa.
"Well, something is clearly going wrong," he sighs. "It's not very common that Liverpool loses two games out of four. And we have to look at that."
The frown that spreads across his forehead is slow but telling, and Reina soon delivers what will sound like an alarm bell to every Liverpool fan, saying: "The team that we have now is the team that we have, and maybe its time to get to realistic and not think about the title but just to think about winning the next game and the next three points.
"After April we can think about where we are, but it makes no sense to put ourselves under this pressure of winning titles.
"We are almost the same team as last season, but the best way to do it is by going step by step, game by game."
It's been a difficult summer for the Reds. After running Manchester United so close during last season, and despite having a vastly reduced transfer kitty, hopes were high that a couple of key signings were all that was needed to make a final push for the league title.
But instead, morale has dropped after Liverpool were thrown off-balance in the wake of Spanish interest in their star players. Xabi Alonso's links to Real Madrid reached a crescendo when the player put in a transfer request; the playmaker eventually left to join Florentino Perez and his Bernabeu revolution.
Reina freely admits that the club are suffering from an Alonso hangover. "Yes it is a fair assessment, because Xabi Alonso is a great player and it's no secret that for us he was our best player last season. But he wanted to go and the club decided to sell him," he says.
"We have to stop talking about him because he is no longer a Liverpool player and we have to focus on the squad that we have.”
But, according to Reina, what made it worse was the timing of the transfer, happening as it did so close to the end of the transfer window.
He says: "It happened late and we almost had no reaction at all, but we have a capable squad still to fight for some good things and the secret for us in my point of view is that we have to go step by step, game by game and that starts with Burnley."
As unsettling as Alonso's departure may have been, the Spaniard wasn't alone in angling for a 
move elsewhere. Combative midfielder Javier Mascherano was linked with Barcelona and the player himself did little to quash the rumours.
The Argentine wasn't allowed to leave, but Reina doesn't feel that it has compromised the player or his commitment to the team.
"Mascherano is the kind of player that everyone wants in his team, but I can guarantee absolutely one hundred per cent that he is committed to the Liverpool shirt," he reveals.
"He is so competitive that when he is on the pitch he forgets about everything which has nothing to do with football. He is a good player and important for us and fortunately, as we have now passed the transfer deadline, we can focus on the players that we have."
With the uncertain start made by the team, Reina accepts that the morale within the camp needs boosting, but says that the slump is due to poor results and not because of any team discord
"It's a competitive dressing room. There are no bad feelings in there at all, I can guarantee that," he assures.
"But the thing is that we have to be friends on the pitch and for 90 minutes and after that the mood in the dressing room becomes good, so we can compete well in the training sessions and then in the games."
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