Premiership: Thompson - we'll bounce back

Phil Thompson is in no doubt his Liverpool side will bounce back from the nightmare of being thumped 4-0 by Chelsea.

"Our lads have shown tremendous effort and done great on a long run," he said.

"Today it all went wrong together, so let's hope that if we can take anything from it, it was that we have gotten them mistakes all out of the way. We have done exceptionally well and we now have to show a little bit of steel and even more commitment."

Thompson also felt despite the absence of Michael Owen, who was rested as a precautionary measure because of a hamstring worry, Liverpool created enough chances to have taken something out of the match.

He said: "Michael is a very good player and you need him, he has been hot - but with the other players we created enough chances today and Cudicini played very well."

Thompson was, though, unhappy at both his player's sloppy defending as well as a decision which he felt went against his side in the build-up to Chelsea's second goal.

"We have always lost an early goal here and it makes it that little bit harder," added Thompson. "Jerzy Dudek had made a great save and Graeme Le Saux reacted to stick it in the net.

"The second goal was extremely disappointing because I think that everybody in the stadium could see that Cudicini had saved the ball and it had gone out.

"If the referee had missed it because he was unsighted, okay - but surely the linesman can see that! He took the goal kick and it's gone down the other end - and goal."

Liverpool rallied after the break and Thompson believes Gary McAllister penalty miss was the turning point which could have led to a revival.

He said: "We took the game to them and whoever scored the next goal was crucial. If Macca's penalty had gone in it would have been a completely different game.

"The crowd would have started to get on their backs and we would have had the upper hand.

"It was bad defending for a lot of the goals, which is disappointing because Jerzy has made a couple of good saves and they have put it in the back of the net."