Liverpool fans will have been left scrambling for reasons to be optimistic after witnessing their team succumb to a feeble 0-3 defeat at home to Atalanta on Thursday night.
A first loss at Anfield in 14 months leaves the Reds on the brink of Europa League elimination, barring a miraculous turnaround in Bergamo in next week’s second leg, but before then comes a crucial Premier League assignment against Crystal Palace.
Thankfully, Jurgen Klopp’s team haven’t been too accustomed to that losing feeling throughout the season so far, and there are three reasons to suggest that we’ll get the ‘reaction’ that he’s promised when the Eagles visit Merseyside on Sunday.
READ MORE: Klopp explains why he didn’t call upon Trent during Liverpool’s defeat to Atalanta
Liverpool have yet to lose consecutive games this season
Thursday night was only the sixth time that the Reds have ended up on the losing side in 2023/24, with the others coming against Tottenham (September), Toulouse (November), Union Saint-Gilloise (December), Arsenal (February) and Manchester United (March).
As can be seen above, LFC haven’t lost more than once in the same month, with the three matches between the FA Cup exit at Old Trafford and the Atalanta defeat last night by far their shortest unbeaten run of the season (it had been six games from Spurs to Toulouse prior to that).
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Near-perfect response straight after defeats
Not only have Liverpool yet to lose twice consecutively this term, their response to defeat has been almost flawless, as seen from their results immediately after each of those first five losses:
1-2 v Tottenham -> 2-0 v Union Saint-Gilloise
2-3 v Toulouse -> 3-0 v Brentford
1-2 v Union Saint-Gilloise -> 0-0 v Man United
1-3 v Arsenal -> 3-1 v Burnley
3-4 v Man United (AET) -> 2-1 v Brighton
Four wins and only one draw straight after their five defeats prior to last night suggests that the Reds don’t tend to dwell in self-pity for long.
Liverpool have yet to go three games without a win this season
Having drawn at Old Trafford last weekend and then lost to Atalanta, Klopp’s side are at risk of going three matches without a win if they fail to beat Palace on Sunday, but that’s something which has yet to happen to them so far in 2023/24.
In fact, it’s only the third time that they’ve failed to win consecutive fixtures (following 1-1 v Luton/2-3 v Toulouse, and 1-2 v Union SG/0-0 v Man United), so thankfully we haven’t fallen into any major rut in recent months.
The closest Liverpool have come to any sustained drop-off are a couple of sequences where they won just one match out of four, which happened in November and also just before Christmas.
There’s no guarantee that those statistics will remain intact beyond the weekend, but the evidence is there to suggest that the Reds quickly put bad results behind them to get back into the winning habit. That’s exactly what they need to do on Sunday if they’re to maintain their Premier League title challenge.