Rodgers: We made too many mistakes
Brendan Rodgers delivered a frank assessment of his side's 3-1 defeat to Hull at the KC Stadium - and pinpointed the mistakes which led to a disappointing loss.
Jake Livermore's deflected effort handed the home team the lead on Sunday; however, Steven Gerrard pegged the Tigers back with a clinical free-kick.
On 71 minutes, David Meyler rifled low beyond Simon Mignolet to restore Hull's advantage, before Martin Skrtel's own-goal consigned the Reds to defeat.
"It was very disappointing," Rodgers told reporters in his post-match press conference. "I thought this was an opportunity for us to begin the week well.
"Hull came in on the back of losing at home and we arrived into the game with confidence and belief. But we made too many mistakes, with and without the ball, and overall it was very disappointing."
He added: "I just thought we lacked quality. With the ball we just didn't create enough and we didn't keep the ball long enough in order to move them about.
"I always felt that we were in control of the game, but we needed to show a wee bit more quality and penetrate that wee bit more.
"But we didn't play well enough. The players are committed enough and they have been giving everything - but today, our quality [was lacking] and there were just too many individual mistakes.
"There were two deflected goals - we were unfortunate with that. We gave the ball away in a bad area [for the first goal] and it was a deflected goal, which puts you on the back foot straight away. We equalised with a great free-kick that got us back into it.
"But then we didn't defend well enough when the ball came into the box. We were too slow and not aggressive enough in our defending. The third one is an own-goal. So it wasn't very good from that aspect.
"McGregor never really had to make too many saves and we're a team that has created a lot of chances this season."
Rodgers brought Kolo Toure back into the side to partner Skrtel at the heart of defence, electing to keep Daniel Agger and Mamadou Sakho in reserve.
"As a team, defensively, it's been difficult for us because we've had to change a lot," explained Rodgers. "The only stability we've had has been our goalkeeper.
"We've had a lot of changes to make defensively this season after injuries and people out. So that hasn't helped us.
"Toure has good experience and we were playing against more physical opponents, [against which] he does well. Sometimes we have struggled in that department. Ideally, I want to be able to play a balanced back-five, but we haven't been able to do that.
"In our last two games we've conceded six goals. So we need to be much, much better than that and that's something we need to return to on Wednesday night."
Daniel Sturridge sustained an ankle sprain in the build-up to the weekend's action and so the prolific England international was missing from the Reds' starting XI.
Likewise, Philippe Coutinho had suffered a high ankle sprain, which meant the Brazilian playmaker was unable to train at Melwood throughout the week.
While Coutinho was introduced in the 66th minute to replace Victor Moses, Rodgers admitted that the pair were missed as the Reds slipped to their first ever defeat against Hull.
"If you take those two out, they're obviously two very good players, who have been very efficient for us this season," said the manager. "But this little period now will test us.
"We've got players who will come in and it will be a great opportunity for them to come in and stake their place in the team. Hopefully we get back to winning games on Wednesday.
"When we went into the Fulham game, we had targets in terms of points, starting with Fulham. And if we get two victories in our next two home games, that will put us on course for the bigger picture, which is two points a game."
Steve Bruce's side went into the game in 13th place in the Barclays Premier League table, having made a solid start to the current campaign.
Reporters questioned Rodgers afterwards as to whether he was surprised by the quality of their play.
The manager responded: "No, out of the promoted teams, Hull have done the best this season.
"Before the game they were on 14 points, which tells you that if they keep that level going, they will be around mid-table.
"Steve changed things at half-time, but we still couldn't find a cutting edge and then we didn't defend well enough as a team.
"We just need to reflect on this. We haven't had too many days of late like this here. Now we have a massive game on Wednesday and we must focus and look to get our points in that game."