Joel Matip admits it will take more than one simple fix to solve Liverpool's early-season problems as he lifted the lid on the painful post-mortem following last week's Italian horror show.
The Reds suffered their heaviest defeat in European competition for 56 years when they were thrashed 4-1 at Napoli in their Champions League group opener last Wednesday.
With the weekend Premier League game at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers having been postponed due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Jurgen Klopp's side have had almost a week to contemplate the defeat as they prepare for Tuesday's visit of Ajax.
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And Matip has explained how harsh words have been exchanged at the AXA Training Centre with Liverpool facing a significant task in addressing their inconsistent form.
"There were a lot of heavy faces afterwards," said the centre-back. "Nobody expected this but everybody knows what happened there. Everyone was really critical of himself and was not happy about their performance and we are working on this.
"I think in the team we are quite clear, sometimes it hurts and this is normal but in a good team - which I think we are - you can speak about these truths. You don’t like to hear them in the first moment sometimes but everybody knows something has to happen and we have to improve and that we have to work on these kind of things. And for these kind of things, you have to talk."
Asked to elaborate on what was discussed, Matip added: "It is not easy to give this one thing. Then it would be easier and everybody can turn it around. I think a lot of things can help us, it starts with defending and playing the way we played always, but it's not easy to say 'this is the one thing, and if we change it then everything will go well'.
"We need to expect that Ajax is a great side and that we have to suffer. It doesn't work out directly from the first second. We want to be there from the first second and want to fight. This is the only way to get back on track.
"Have I seen the manager angrier? Everybody knows him, he is a quite a motivated boss all of the time. It's a different situation (now) but there was never a motivation lack with him. He was always on his toes and wanted to be the best. Even when we played good, the day after training he was also asking for everything. It's a different situation now as we didn't play good. He is still there and wanting to make us the best team we can be."
Matip replaced Joe Gomez at half-time in Naples and is now poised to make his first start since returning from a groin problem, with Liverpool aiming to tighten a defence that has kept only two clean sheets this season.
"Of course it is not the most comfortable situation but you don’t always get thrown in when it is nice," he said of his introduction at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. "You also need to help your team-mates when it isn't going good, that's all about the team. If it's not going good then it's time to show up.
"Yes, there was a big focus on defending. This is the biggest thing to get successful. This is the first step, defend good. Always it helps if you go back to the roots if they are successful roots."
Matip, who has been at the Reds for more than six years, also believes the more experienced players in the squad have a role to play. "We need to lead, we need to talk with each other and need to help each other," he said. "We cannot go as a person on the pitch, only as a team, and for this you need team-mates and you need to help your team-mates. If you are older and experienced, you should do it."
Matip, though, doesn't believe a hangover from last term - when Liverpool played 63 games in reaching three finals - and a shortened pre-season can be used as reasons for their slow start to the campaign.
"I don’t want to make any excuses," he said. "We play at Liverpool, and we want to play as much games as possible. It is not always comfortable this amount of games, especially for the international players with all the games they play. But we just try to perform and want to play as much games as possible. That's why we are here."
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