“There has been a lot of talk about where we are at as a team – something else that is part and parcel of being at a club like Liverpool – but we know this better than anyone. Just as we were not perfect last season when we became champions and just as we knew we needed a lot of late goals to win our early games this season, we recognise that in a lot of our recent fixtures our biggest issue has been being on the wrong side of the small margins.
“This was even true of our defeat against Manchester City, even though we certainly would not challenge the belief that our opponents were deserved winners that day and we also recognise that our performance level was not what it should have been.
“There are small margins that we cannot always control – as Virgil [van Dijk]’s disallowed goal in that game demonstrated – but there are ones that we can and must do better in. If we do this, then it will become easier to sustain the kind of form that allowed us to get positive results against Villa and Real.
“This journey will not come without challenge of course and today that comes from a Nottingham Forest team which we know is capable of causing problems for any opponents, especially as it is clear that their own form and performances have been improving in recent weeks.
“I would like to welcome Sean Dyche, his players and staff and the supporters and officials of Forest to Anfield in the knowledge of the quality they will bring and the need this creates for us to perform at a very high level.
“This is the nature of the Premier League. In other leagues it is sometimes possible to see a team that is towards the bottom and maybe see them as an ‘easier’ opponent but this definitely isn’t true in England. It was only a matter of months ago that Forest finished seventh with 65 points having won at Anfield earlier in the season, so we know that their level is much higher than the current league table might suggest.
“We also believe the same is true of ourselves but there is no point just saying it or thinking it, we have to go and prove it.”
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