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Milos Kerkez issued a resolute message following Liverpool's devastating 3-2 defeat at Brentford. The Premier League champions were dealt another blow on Saturday, extending their winless streak in the top-flight to four matches.
Arne Slot is experiencing his toughest period as manager at Anfield, following an impressive debut season that saw Liverpool reclaim its place at the top. However, his side was unable to capitalize on the midweek Champions League victory over Eintracht Frankfurt, with the poor league form continuing.
Kerkez has found it challenging to adjust to the Dutchman's tactics since his arrival in Merseyside. He was signed from AFC Bournemouth this summer but has faced criticism for his performances.
The Hungarian full-back took to social media to rally his teammates and supporters amidst growing pressure and unease in L4. His message was simple: "Believe, work and improve."
Liverpool found themselves trailing at the Gtech Community Stadium within just five minutes, when Dango Ouattara scored following a long throw-in that unsettled the visitors. Kevin Schade then outpaced Ibrahima Konate to double their lead before half-time, but Kerkez offered a ray of hope by scoring in first-half stoppage time.
But on the hour mark, Liverpool's quest to break their recent woeful record in the capital became that bit more difficult, when Virgil van Dijk was penalised for a foul on Ouattara. Igor Thiago converted his spot-kick, sparking a flurry of changes from the away bench.
Mohamed Salah's thunderous volley sparked a late fightback but it ultimately proved in vain for Liverpool. After their 5-1 victory in Germany this week, Van Dijk disclosed that talks had occurred to examine their recent disappointments, compounded by a home defeat to rivals Manchester United.
Nevertheless, the Liverpool skipper conceded that he and his teammates needed to take a long, hard look at themselves after their latest Premier League setback. He said after the match: "Disappointed about losing here.
"We know what their strengths were and what they were going to try to do. We needed to be spot on with the quality they had. It was a disappointing night overall for us. Tough to take but it's the reality and we need to keep going.
"It's the reality that we lost today. We have the next game on Wednesday against an opponent [Crystal Palace] who already made our life difficult this season.
"We have to turn our mindset pretty quickly to be ready for that. They will come to Anfield to hurt us even more, but this is a tough one to take. We can't deny that. It's not an easy moment. We were trying to build on that performance against Frankfurt and this was not a nice evening to have."
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He added: "The fact we didn't keep a clean sheet for nine games! It's easy to blame a particular person, the backline or set-pieces. But it's a collective thing in the end. Everyone has to look in the mirror, including myself. I am sure we will get out of this.
"But we won't do it just by talking about it. We will try to improve. We need each other, we ned the support. We need the people who were celebrating with us last year to be with us now even more. We will get out of this because we have the quality offensively and defensively."
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