MARK LAWRENSON: Liverpool will move on from Tottenham blip

And we would certainly have been writing Liverpool off as genuine title challengers for another year.

Not this time. It says everything about this current Liverpool side that the general consensus seems to be 'let's forget it and move on'.

For a start, you can't blame the players for the defeat at Spurs. They absolutely battered them and if that game had finished 4-0 nobody would have batted an eyelid.

On Match Of The Day I said Liverpool created enough chances to have won three games, never mind one, so you certainly wouldn't criticise them after such a dominant performance. It was just one of those days when the ball would not go in.

As for Benitez, there's not much he could have done really, is there? Mangers don't miss the chances. Managers aren't responsible for balls hitting posts and crossbars or indeed for Xabi Alonso missing free headers.

There was an eight-minute spell at the start of the second half when Liverpool had four great chances to make it 2-0 and that would have killed the game off, and if Fernando Torres had been fit it surely would have been.

But Benitez picked pretty much his best side and they played well, so what more could he do? How can you legislate for Jamie Carragher heading into his own net of all things?

The only worry for me overall was perhaps the performance of Pepe Reina, who seemed to want to come for everything but didn't make it. But we all know any lapse in his form will only ever be temporary.

And that's what Liverpool need to ensure Saturday was. Just a blip.

The best thing for them now is to have a game straight away.

If they can get back to winning ways tonight against Atletico Madrid and beat West Brom on Saturday then Tottenham is well and truly out of their system. Ancient history.

A bit like how the home defeat to Liverpool is to Chelsea.

They bounced straight back in midweek by beating Hull 3-0 then they hit five past Sunderland on Saturday.

I would also draw parallels with Manchester United's experience at Everton. They could have been four or five by the early stages of the second half but, similar to Liverpool, they lost their way and in the end dropped some vital points. But it didn't affect them. They easily beat West Ham then put four past Hull City to get themselves right back on track following a disappointing weekend.

Liverpool have already beaten United and Chelsea this season - now they have to match them again and respond to a bad result in the best way possible.

The fact that everyone seems to believe they can shows how much Benitez's side have changed opinions so far this season.

Cheated by TV's derby day swap

IN the past I've been critical of the Merseyside derbies being played at lunchtime on a Saturday.

But give me that any time compared to a Monday night kick-off.

Liverpool v Everton is a massive event on Merseyside but rescheduling it for such a stupid day in January just proves that the last people considered are those to whom the game matters most.

I don't even understand why Setanta are so keen to mess about with it anyway. They're never really great games and do Geordies, Mancunians and Londoners really care about it that much?

Sorry, but you're going to have to do better than that to convince me that the Merseyside derby should be moved from its weekend slot. I feel cheated and I bet I'm not the only one.