Clarke: We'll bounce back
Steve Clarke is backing Liverpool to take out their Stoke frustrations on Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane this Sunday.
Despite Kenny Dalglish's side losing 1-0, the first-team coach insists the players deserved more for their efforts at the Britannia Stadium.
"When you've been in football as long as I have you know these things can happen. You can completely dominate the game, create many chances and not manage to get a goal that would have given us some reward for the hard work we put in," Clarke told Liverpoolfc.tv.
"Stoke got a soft penalty which gave them an undeserved lead and I think that was the first time they had been in our penalty box.
"Once they got themselves in front they proved to be very difficult to break down and they were difficult opponents on the day.
"Everyone was disappointed in the dressing room after the game because we lost the game. We as the coaching staff have to try to put forward the positives.
"We played well and we created enough chances to have won two games so we have to give the players the positives and understand their disappointment at the same time.
"It's a long season and you know you will get setbacks but it's how you react to those setbacks. The mood in training has been fine and the players know they performed to an acceptable standard obviously without the required result against Stoke.
"We have to make sure when we go to Tottenham on Sunday that we put in an acceptable performance, only this time make sure we get the required result."
Click on the play button below to watch our exclusive chat with Clarke
Harry Redknapp's side got their first victory of the season when they won 2-0 at Wolves at the weekend and did the double over Liverpool last season.
Clarke has a lot of respect for the North London side and knows they will be eager to shine in front of their home supporters after their previous game at White Hart Lane saw them thumped 5-1 by Manchester City.
He added: "Anywhere you go in the Barclays Premier League you know you will be in for a tough game. Tottenham started a little bit slowly but they had a great result last weekend against Wolves.
"They have got quality players. We know that because they finished above us last season.
"They are one of the teams we have to look and target this season to make sure we finish above them."
Spurs lost their last home game 5-1 to Manchester City but Clarke is certainly not fearing any backlash.
"I don't think we will worry about any backlash. We have to respect Tottenham because we know they have some good players and they are a good team, but we have to concentrate on ourselves," he added.
"We are working to build something here and I think the performances so far have been really encouraging and we'll try to take that forward and continue that as the season progresses."
Meanwhile, Clarke gave an update on Glen Johnson's fitness after the right-back suffered a hamstring injury during the loss at Stoke.
He said: "We are still waiting on the results of Glen's scan so until that comes out there's no point in speculating about it.
"We will just see how he is when we get the scan and see what the timeframe is."