Jurgen Klopp insists that Liverpool’s problems are not as bad as perceived.
A first-hurdle exit to Leicester City in the Carabao Cup compounded a difficult period for the Reds in which they have failed to win in their past four games.
The two-goal reversal at the King Power Stadium was preceded by back-to-back draws with Burnley and Sevilla after a 5-0 hammering by Manchester City.
But as his side prepare to take on Leicester again this weekend, Klopp has downplayed suggestions that his side are mired in a potential crisis.
He said: “It sounds like we have no points and are completely the worst team in the league.
“Yes, we have problems – that is why we ‘only’ have eight points and not 15.
“We can make it more serious than it is or we can take it like it is. I understand 100 per cent [why] we sit here and talk about the things that have happened.
“I know already about all these problems, or ‘not problems’, and I’ve made my decision already how to work with it.
“But if I talk a lot about it I only create headlines – ‘Klopp says this, Klopp says that’ and it doesn’t help us.
“We have work to do but that would be the same if we had 15 points, only it would feel different but it would be the same.
“We conceded the first goal against Sevilla and responded really well, we conceded the first goal against Burnley and responded really well.
“This is the long part of a three-game week from Tuesday to Saturday so we have one more session. We can use it but we have to prove it on Saturday.”