And the 27-year-old from Johannesburg insists a run of just one win in 11 matches "is nothing to panic about, even if we are in a mess".

The South African midfielder was in outstanding form against Liverpool, despite it being only his second game back in the side after 10 matches out with a knee injury but he still could not manage to save Everton from a 2-0 defeat at Goodison Park.

Pienaar, however, believes the green shoots of recovery were in evidence and will boost the players ahead of their Europa League Group One qualifier away to AEK Athens on Wednesday.

Everton headed off to Greece on Monday for a match they need to win after successive home and away defeats by Benfica dented their hopes of qualifying for the next stage of the competition.

But Pienaar believes he saw enough in the Merseyside derby to believe things are about to change.

He said: "We now have a Europa League game in Athens, and we go into that after another defeat, which is not the best preparation.

"But what is in our favour is that we know that we played well, and we have an opportunity to get ourselves back on track quickly if we can achieve the result we want in Athens.

"We go into Europe determined to make things right. If we get a victory in Athens it will be a real morale boost for the team ahead of next weekend's home game with Spurs."

He added: "We did feel we played well against Liverpool, that is a boost for us even though we lost. Another win in the Europa League will give us even more confidence, and lift our spirits.

"I know that our fans must have left Goodison on Sunday feeling very disappointed with losing to Liverpool, but they will hopefully have had a smile too because of the performance and effort that we managed.

"Now we must take that level of performance into Europe and then the next league match because we have been dragged into the relegation fight.

"We did not think we would be in this position at the beginning of the season, but sometimes you have a bad run and that is what is happening to us.

"But there is a lot of games still to go, and if we get as couple of wins in a row we will be right back into midfield. This situation is nothing to panic about."

Pienaar accepts another damaging defeat is just adding to Everton's worrying season that sees them just three points off the bottom three.

He added: "Obviously we were very disappointed to lose a derby game, they are so important to us and the fans.

"It hurts to lose, especially the way we lost with a deflected goal and then a late one when we were pushing up trying to get the equaliser.

"We had several chances, but they got their goals from very few opportunities. Liverpool are a good team and they will take advantage of things like that.

"Once they score it is always hard against them, even if we did really have a go at them. The plan was to put them under pressure, but we didn't take our chances."

He continued: "The turning point was probably those two saves from Pepe Reina in the second half. He is a world-class keeper and he kept his team in the game.

"If either had gone in it would have been a different game. We were on the front foot, and we would have gone on to win the match.

"As for my own fitness, I am pleased with the way things are going. This was only my second game back from injury and I have pushed myself really hard to get to this point.

"I have worked hard on my physical fitness, but I am short of match fitness. I still have to get myself up to the pace of the Premier League again, and that will be very hard.

"But it is important that I get there, regain my confidence, and then be able to help the team get out of the mess we are in."