It is never pleasant watching the football team you happen to support get stuffed by the opposition.
However, life goes on and you get over it. Painful though it might be, fans have to accept defeats now and again. That's all part of the game.
A real walloping is another matter altogether, however. It's not the loss, fans can handle that, but the humiliation of being thrashed. It is all the more distressing for a big club unused to such treatment.
Which brings us to the extraordinary events at Anfield last Sunday when Manchester United suffered a second-half meltdown against Liverpool resulting in a 7-0 loss. It was United's biggest defeat since a similar scoreline against Wolves 91 years ago.
Making matters worse, the thrashing came at the hand of their historic rivals. Most people accept Juergen Klopp's verdict that it was a "freak result," but for United fans it still hurt.
The ironic thing was that United had entered the game as slight favourites after an excellent run which included winning the League Cup the previous week. United were the form team in the Premier League.
Although Liverpool were leading 1-0 at half-time, it had been a close game and no sign of the drama to come.
Not surprisingly United manager Erik ten Hag was visibly stunned by what happened in those last 45 minutes. His immediate reaction was that his side "lost our heads… it was totally unprofessional".
However, he later came out strongly in defence of captain Bruno Fernandes who took a lot of flak from fans and pundits alike for his perceived poor attitude as his side crumbled.
Ten Hag said Fernandes "is an inspiration to the team…he is playing a brilliant season."
Marcus Rashford also backed Fernandes saying: "I love playing with Bruno…..he's a fantastic player."
United shook off the Anfield nightmare on Thursday with a convincing 4-1 win over Real Betis in the Europa League and almost inevitably Fernandes had an outstanding game.
We must not forget Liverpool's role of course. They were almost back to their best and pounced on every United mistake. Mo Salah was outstanding the whole game while Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez made significant contributions with two goals apiece.
It is not the first time the old rivals have embarrassed United.
In Oct 2021 when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was manager, Liverpool thrashed the hosts 5-0 at Old Trafford. However, it was a period when Man U had been struggling and did not come as such a shock as last Sunday's result.
United of course are capable of dishing it out too.
In February 2021, they thrashed Southampton 9-0 at Old Trafford. It was the second such trouncing Saints manager Ralph Hassenhuttl had suffered in 16 months.
You had to feel for the Austrian boss when, after the United defeat, he commented with considerable emotion: "What can I say? It's horrible."
My home town team of Reading know all about heavy defeats in the Premier League.
They only spent three seasons in the top flight. In the second season, 2007-08, they were responsible for some bizarre scorelines.
In a wild game in September 2008 they, lost 7-4 away to Portsmouth.
Scoring four goals away from home is something you would normally celebrate but there were few celebrations in Reading that evening.
The 11 goals were the highest aggregate score ever in the Premier League. It would not have been so bad if it had been against a top team, but at that time Portsmouth were no great shakes.
Three months later, Reading were at it again, although this time conceding one less goal, losing 6-4 away to Tottenham Hotspur.
Seven of the goals were scored in a frantic last 30 minutes. It is hard to believe but Reading actually were leading three times.
It will come as no surprise that Reading were relegated that season, but at least they had plenty of fun.
United take on Southampton tomorrow and the struggling Saints will beware the wounded giants. They will not want a repeat of that crushing defeat two seasons ago.
It could turn out to be a cathartic game for either team.
