Dejan Lovren has admitted that the criticism of his performance in Liverpool's 4-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur in October was a much-needed wake-up call.

The defender was heavily criticised after a particularly poor display at Wembley Stadium that saw him substituted by Jurgen Klopp after half an hour.

Since that loss, the Reds have won seven of the following nine games, climbing back into the top four, and have also secured their spot in the Champions League knockout stages.

Lovren himself has started four games since, helping to keep three clean sheets, and he admits that the "punch" was essential in reinvigorating their season.

"I think maybe we needed something like that to wake up," Lovren told the Liverpool Echo. "It was too much from around – people were talking really negative about why we don't score, why this, we had many draws and then the Spurs game happened.

"Sometimes it happens. At that moment, Spurs were at the top level and were beating everyone. Now they are in a different situation and maybe we're in the situation they were in at that time.

"The most important thing is that we keep going on like this. I am really not afraid of anything and I think the lads are also ready to fight and to fight every game, then let's see what will happen.

"That's part of football and you need to be ready to receive that punch sometimes and you need to be ready also to give the punch away - it's both ways."

Up next for Liverpool is Sunday's Premier League derby against Everton.