'We've lost one of our last 16 games - there's nothing to panic about'
Liverpool have no reason to panic after seeing their 15-game unbeaten run end at Bournemouth last Sunday.
That is the message from former Red Jason McAteer, who insists that one loss should not mean the club is engulfed in ‘doom and gloom’.
Jürgen Klopp’s side were on course to make it 16 outings without defeat at the Vitality Stadium when leading 2-0 and 3-1, but they were undone by a late comeback that saw the hosts score three times in the final 17 minutes.
Nevertheless, Liverpool sit four points off the pace at the top of the Premier League and in the semi-finals of the EFL Cup having lost just two of their 18 games in all competitions this season - meaning McAteer remains upbeat, despite the disappointing outcome on the south coast.
“You don’t become a bad team overnight and all of a sudden because you lose one game it’s all doom and gloom,” the former Republic of Ireland international told Liverpoolfc.com.
“We were unbeaten in 15 games prior to this with some very, very good, outstanding performances. We’ve lost one in the last 16, so it’s nothing to panic about. If we now go six or seven without winning then we’ve got a problem, but at the minute we’ve lost one and we scored three goals away from home.
“So let’s look at the positives, let’s move forward in a positive manner into this heavy period over Christmas and New Year with a smile on our face.”
McAteer went on to say that Klopp and his players will be putting in the hours at Melwood this week in order to give themselves the best possible chance of bouncing back against West Ham United on Sunday.
“In adversity, you always find out a lot more. Problems, when something doesn’t go well and there’s negatives, you’ve got to go through that, you’ve got to find them and work on them,” he added.
“You’re never going to go through the season winning every game. There will be those games where you don’t play well and don’t win, but then you’ve got to analyse and see why you didn’t play well, why did certain things happen? That’s when you get back on the training ground and that’s why you work hard.
“Sometimes it just takes an arm around the shoulder and to convince people to keep their confidence and their way of thought positive.
“It’s easy in this day and age to go into your shell or question your ability, but we have a very, very good manager who’s very good at that and I’m sure he’s putting his arm around players and telling them not to worry about their position in the team, or about going forward. This is just a little setback, a tiny setback.”