Antonio Conte has offered a stark warning to his Chelsea players that they risk enduring a repeat of last season’s underachievement if they do not learn quickly from their mistakes and improve as a defensive unit.

Liverpool, playing football “like hell” according to their manager Jürgen Klopp, inflicted the first defeat of the Italian’s tenure at Stamford Bridge with an eye-catching win to join their hosts two points from the top of the table. While Klopp could rejoice in a fine victory, Conte was left contemplating a shoddy defensive record at home that has seen them keep only one clean sheet in the league all year, with too many of his players having wilted when it mattered.

“We mustn’t forget last season,” said the Chelsea manager. “That was such a bad season, and I don’t want to repeat it. When you finish the season in 10th place, there is something strange. It’s not natural. It’s not simple. When you finish in 10th place it means you have to work very hard to improve to make sure you don’t repeat the bad season. I think that, this season, the manager, the players, all the people who work for Chelsea must take their responsibility. Because, I repeat, we win together, we lose together.

“This is very important. I don’t want to repeat a bad season like last year. I don’t want that. For this reason we must pay attention in every single moment of the game, in every minute. I’m the coach so I must work more on this aspect. Now, it’s not enough because this is not the first time this has happened. We must feel the danger in every single moment of the game, if we want to win and think like a great team. Chelsea is a great team, but we must show this in every single game, to pay attention and be focused.”

The manager had been unimpressed with the fragility exploited by Watford and Swansea City already this season, albeit those games were not lost. He pointed to the absence of John Terry as potentially critical as Liverpool prospered from a quickly taken free-kick and a throw-in. “I think we missed the organisation in certain situations: free-kicks, throw-ins,” he added. “We gave away two goals, and we must pay attention. Usually when you lose, [your performance was] never perfect. For this reason, we must work more with great patience.”

Klopp has seen his side glean 10 points from trips to Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, and a home victory over the champions, Leicester City. Asked if his team are now contenders for the title, he said: “Someone asked me that when we won 3-1 last season against Chelsea. My answer then was: ‘Are you crazy?’ I remember it well. Look, we have 10 points. That’s fantastic. I’m really happy after these difficult fixtures. We know we can play good football, we’re convinced about our quality. We just have to keep it up. Today we played football like hell. It was really nice to watch. In the second half it was a bit more difficult but, after their goal, we managed it well.”