Dejan Lovren: We'll stay calm and move forward
Dejan Lovren doesn’t believe a first defeat of the Premier League season will have an adverse psychological effect on Liverpool following Thursday’s 2-1 loss at Manchester City.
The Reds had their lead at the top of the table cut to four points by Pep Guardiola’s men after an intense clash at the Etihad Stadium which ended their unbeaten start to the 2018-19 top-flight campaign.
Nevertheless, Lovren feels Jürgen Klopp’s squad possess a strong mentality which will enable them to put the loss behind them and move on.
“The message [in the dressing room afterwards] was to stay calm,” the centre-back told reporters following the final whistle.
“There are many games in front of us, and we knew it was a big season and we are still first. Nothing changed.
“We need to stay calm, keep our focus game by game and do not look back. When we win or we lose, we will not look back.
“People already questioned us even before the season, even now they said this game was already the title. It doesn't work in football like that. It is game by game, let us see at the end of the season where we will finish.
“But I don't think this will change anything. No, we are quite strong, strong in the mentality.
“This is Liverpool, we will always come back when it's tough. And you know it is tough after the final whistle, but it is over, finished, we can't change it.
“We will accept that and congratulate Manchester City – but the season is quite long and I believe in this team.”
Liverpool had chances to salvage something from the contest with City – most notably when Sadio Mane struck the post with the scoreline tied at 0-0 in the first half and John Stones subsequently prevented the ball from crossing the line by a millimetre.
"For them it is a big win, when you look we have been undefeated this season until now,” Lovren continued.
"It is similar to last season, just opposite sides, when we won against them for the first time.
"The dropped deep in the last 10 to 15 minutes, we couldn't find a way. It's a first defeat in the league but we played good football, especially second half. We showed our ability to come back, but it wasn't enough.
"We need to accept that this is what it is. Just like when we have been winning this season, we keep calm now that we lost. We stick together and we will continue."