Claudio Ranieri suffers unwanted record in Liverpool rout

New Watford manager Claudio Ranieri claimed an unfortunate record on Saturday, as his first game in charge ended in a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Liverpool.

The loss was the Italian's heaviest ever in the Premier League, having previously taken charge of Chelsea, Fulham and Leicester City, where he famously won an unlikely league title in the 2015-16 season.

Sadio Mane put the Reds ahead in the first 10 minutes, before Roberto Firmino starred with a hat-trick and Mohamed Salah contributed a goal to seal a dominant win for the title-chasing Anfield outfit.

No manager has ever lost by a larger margin in their first game in charge of a club in the English top flight, while Ranieri is only equalled by Alan Smith, whose first match as Crystal Palace boss resulted in a 6-1 defeat to Liverpool in 1994, in stats provided by OptaJoe.

The former Leicester coach was appointed at Vicarage Road at the beginning of October, following the departure of Xisco Munoz, who saw the Hornets collect seven points from the opening seven games after guiding them to promotion last season.