'We had to look back to go forward, and that’s what we did'
Following an open and honest team meeting and a week of hard work at Melwood, Georginio Wijnaldum is confident that Liverpool are ready to bounce back when Huddersfield Town visit Anfield on Saturday.
The Reds suffered a 4-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, but Wijnaldum - who is fit again missing the trip to Wembley - believes their approach in the aftermath of that match has prepared them to respond positively against the Terriers.
“First we had a meeting about the things that went wrong, about what we did wrong in the game. That wasn’t to give us a bad feeling, but more to learn from the mistakes that we made,” the midfielder revealed to Liverpoolfc.com.
“After that we were training hard on the training pitch because you have to give a reaction on the training pitch after a result like that, especially after the way we were playing.
“We trained hard to try to help each other to keep the confidence and to give a good reaction.”
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The process of discussing and analysing a disappointing result is beneficial, Wijnaldum explained.
“Of course it helps. You speak about a thing that went wrong, and we also try to help each other and that’s how it has to be. Like I said, we have to give a good reaction and that’s what we’re going to try to do on Saturday,” the Netherlands international stated.
“You always have to look forward, but you also have to recognise and accept what you did wrong and sometimes you have to look back because you did things wrong.
“I think the way we lost the game - there’s not a good way you can lose a game, but I think the way we were conceding goals or giving goals away was not good, so we had to look back to go forward, and that’s what we did.
“We look back, look at what we did wrong, try to learn from it, train hard and from that moment we only look forward to have a good result on Saturday.
“You can lose games, that’s part of the game, part of football. You’ll always be disappointed if you lose games, especially the way we lost on Sunday then you’re even more disappointed.
“After the meeting you’re trying to stay positive, trying to help other players stay positive, then you work to Saturday.
“I think it’s a positive thing, we train hard because everyone wants to train hard and do their best to change things, so that’s a positive thing. I think the feeling now is quite positive.”
The prospect of playing at Anfield again after back-to-back away games is something that Wijnaldum is relishing.
“A lot of people underestimate how much supporters can help the team. You can give the team an extra boost if you sing for them. If you show that you are behind the team, that gives a lot of confidence,” the No.5 said.
“It’s really important, so that’s why I also think it’s good that we have a home game. A stadium that we know with a lot of fans of Liverpool can help us to get a good result, so we’re looking forward to it.”
However, the midfielder expects Huddersfield to provide a stern test after their impressive 2-1 win over Manchester United last weekend.
“The same as how they played against Manchester,” Wijnaldum replied, when asked how he thinks David Wagner’s team will set up.
“They were not afraid to play football. They played to win the game, they didn’t play to not lose the game, so I think they’re going to do the same against us.
“Also because the game against Manchester gave them a lot of confidence, they might think ‘if we can win against Manchester, we can win against Liverpool’.”