Adam Lallana: We're bitterly disappointed
Adam Lallana explained Liverpool's bitter disappointment after elimination from the FA Cup with a 2-0 defeat against Chelsea on Tuesday night.
The Reds’ run in the competition ended at the fifth-round stage as goals in either half from Willian and Ross Barkley clinched the tie in the hosts’ favour at Stamford Bridge.
“There were big moments in the first half where we failed to score,” Lallana, one of seven players who came into the starting XI, told BBC Sport post-match.
“It felt like an end-to-end game, a typical cup tie – probably good for the neutral. [But] we’re disappointed not to score.
“The second half started well, there were a couple of breaks in play and it felt like we lost our momentum a little bit.
“A couple of mistakes and if you let a good team like Chelsea counter on you like that, they’re going to have chances. We’re bitterly disappointed with the result. Credit to Chelsea.”
The reversal was Liverpool’s third loss in the past four games in all competitions and followed on from a first Premier League defeat of 2019-20 last Saturday.
“Nothing has been going wrong, you can always lose games,” said Lallana, when asked for possible reasons behind that recent blip.
“It’s about us just staying together, sticking to what we’ve done over the course of the last four or five years since the manager has come in and react. Simple as that.
“We’ve got another game at the weekend – I’m sure you’ll see a big reaction from the lads and hopefully we get the win.”
On what manager Jürgen Klopp said to his players after the final whistle, Lallana added: “‘You come to places like this and if you’re not 100 per cent on it and there are little errors here and there, you’re going to get punished.’ We know that.
“All you can do is react and luckily there’s another game in three days and then obviously the Atletico game is another big game. There are big games around the corner.”