Simon: Why we should be wary of Latics
Simon Mignolet insists Liverpool must guard against any form of complacency if they want to avoid a re-run of the last time they clashed with Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup.
The Belgian's understudy, Brad Jones, was between the sticks at Boundary Park in January 2013, when the League One outfit stunned the Reds with a 3-2 win.
Oldham travel to Anfield at the weekend in a poor vein of form - the Latics have failed to win any of their last six league matches and are five points from rock-bottom in the table.
However, Mignolet knows that such is the nature of the FA Cup, Sunday's opposition will fancy their chances in front of the Kop.
"For them it is already a cup final," he told the Liverpool Echo. "It is already a big game for them to look forward to and they will come here and try to show everyone what they can do at a ground like Anfield.
"We have to make sure we are professional and do a job. We want to win any game.
"It doesn't make any difference whether it is the FA Cup, Capital One Cup or any other games - we try to step on and prepare ourselves and make sure we get out of the game what we can get out of it.
"I would always watch the FA Cup finals growing up in Belgium. It is a very important competition. It is a big opportunity as you can play at Wembley but that is far ahead of us.
"The next game is the most important one and before you get to that stage you have to win a lot of games and against Oldham it won't be an easy game.
"We have to prepare in a professional manner and make sure we are ready for it when it comes along."
Liverpool's 2-0 win over Hull City at Anfield on New Year's Day was the perfect response to consecutive defeats against rivals Manchester City and Chelsea in the space of four days over the festive period.
Goals from Alvaro Negredo for City and Samuel Eto'o for Chelsea were decisive at the Etihad Stadium and Stamford Bridge respectively - and Mignolet admits he could have done better with both efforts.
However, the goalkeeper is determined not to dwell on the negatives, and insists he's pleased to have picked up a sixth shut-out of his Liverpool career against the Tigers.
"There is a difference between being hard on yourself and making sure you learn out of the things you have done before and make sure you look forward to the next game," Mignolet said.
"You have to step onto the pitch with the right mind-set and so far that has not been an issue for me. The way I look at it is I don't get carried away with good performances and neither do I get down when things get a bit tougher.
"The win against Hull was exactly what we wanted after the performances in the Christmas period.
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"It was very important to get back to winning ways. Hull are not easy opponents, as you saw away from home, but I thought we dealt with the game very well in the right manner, scored two goals and kept a clean sheet and that is what you have to do at home.
"We are back in fourth position now and we have to keep going. We can look forward to the cup game on Sunday."
Oldham travel to L4 looking to emulate Mauricio Pochettino's Southampton, who are the only side to have left Anfield with anything but a loss since the start of the season.
In 11 games in all competitions the Reds have netted 31 goals and have largely outplayed opponents with a potent blend of fluent attacking football.
However, the clash against Hull on Wednesday was a more close-fought encounter; for Mignolet, it was simply vital to start the year with three points.
"I don't know if it was our worst performance at home," he said. "You always have to look at the opposition as well. Hull came off the back of a 6-0 win at home to Fulham and they were full of confidence.
"We had two very difficult fixtures before this game and it will always be difficult at home because Hull were always going to sit back and you have to try to create, and you saw that in the opening 20 minutes.
"But we dealt with it very professionally, scored two goals and kept a clean sheet and that is what you have to do against those sides because it can always turn out to be a very difficult day.
"Every home game against sides like Hull, it is a very difficult game until we score the opener and even after that we have to score the second and third goals to finish off the games.
"Therefore it is very difficult to make sure we keep patient, pass the ball around and don't give too many opportunities to the opposition, especially from set-pieces.
"Hull came here hoping to get a chance from a set-piece and, if you go behind, any game is a difficult one in the Premier League. We have to make sure we keep professional."