Far from being deflated by his team’s first Premier League reverse of the season at Watford on Saturday, Liverpool’s ever-positive manager Juergen Klopp reckoned the shock 3-0 setback could prove liberating for his treble-seeking Reds.

Klopp’s champions-elect served up their worst performance of the year as they were outplayed by a Watford side who started the game one from the bottom of the table and 55 points adrift of his runaway leaders.

Yet while recognising his team’s 44-match unbeaten league streak had been bound to be dismantled some time, the German optimist also reflected that he was not really disappointed by the end of the pursuit of some potentially unreal records.

“I see it rather positive because from now on we can play free football again. We don’t have to defend or try to get a record, we can just try to win football games again and that is what we will do,” Klopp told reporters at Vicarage Road.

Asked if there was any disappointment, he added: “Not really, because I don’t think you can break records because you want to break records; you break records because you are 100 percent focused on each step. And for that you have to perform.

“The boys performed and that’s why we won the games, but tonight we were not good enough. It’s not now a plus for me that in history, when they look back in 500 years, they will say, ‘Liverpool nearly did it.’”