Henderson: It's all about how we react to defeat
Jordan Henderson believes Liverpool must use the opportunity of a decisive EFL Cup clash with Southampton next week to produce a response to today's disappointing defeat to Swansea City.
A brace of goals from Roberto Firmino helped the Reds cancel out a two-goal deficit against Paul Clement's men at Anfield and, with over 20 minutes still remaining, they looked favourites for victory.
However, a Gylfi Sigurdsson strike on the counter just five minutes after Firmino's second ended any chances of a comeback and secured the points for the Swans.
Henderson conceded the nature of the defeat was hard to take but challenged his teammates to immediately bounce back by overturning Southampton's one-goal aggregate advantage to secure a cup final berth on Wednesday.
When asked if today's result had dealt a fatal blow to the Reds' title challenge, the captain told BT Sport: "No-one knows that, we'll find out at the end of the season.
"But it's how you react after defeats, that's how you can show character, show your spirit and show how good you are as a team in the game after.
"The next game is very important for us, and we need to react in the right way."
Jürgen Klopp's team had gone over a year without tasting defeat at Anfield before Swansea clinched a win that took them off the foot of the Premier League.
Henderson insisted the result won't kill confidence in the dressing room but admitted he was unhappy with the manner in which the hosts threw the game away.
"One defeat doesn't make you a bad team, we've still got a lot of confidence in the squad," he added.
"When we went 2-0 down you could see we still felt as though we could get back in it, which we did.
"But maybe we were pushing that bit too much for the third and we needed to be a bit more patient, [but we] got done on the counter.
"So, we're very disappointed but the games come thick and fast and we need to be ready for the next one.
"We still feel very confident as a team, we've got brilliant players and we just need to keep going the way we have.
"[We need to] learn from today, because there were a lot of mistakes out there, and make sure the next game we put in a better performance and get a better result."
The skipper also refused to single out the back four for their part in the concession of three goals, underlining the importance of defending as a team.
"I felt, as a team, at times we did [defend well] but at times we can defend a lot better," he continued.
"We need to make sure, especially when you get back in the game at 2-2, that first and foremost you defend and, with the quality we've got, you always fancy us to get another goal."