Andy Robertson has given a list of reasons for Liverpool's issues this season after their FA Cup exit.
The Reds suffered a 2-1 defeat to Brighton in the fourth round of the prestigious competition on Sunday afternoon. Harvey Elliott had opened the scoring, but goals from Lewis Dunk and Kaoru Mitoma handed Liverpool a bitter loss.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are now out of both domestic cup competitions, having lifted the trophy in both last season. The only realistic chance of silverware this term is now left with the Champions League, with Real Madrid awaiting in the last-16.
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Liverpool also suffered a 3-0 defeat to Brighton in the Premier League fixture two weeks earlier. Robertson, who captained the Reds on Sunday, admitted the latest tie saw a better performance, but were still not good enough.
“It’s bitterly disappointing,” Robertson told ITV Sport. “I thought it was a proper cup tie, end to end and I thought both teams had chances.
“We were a lot more competitive than we were two weeks ago against them, but that doesn’t take much. We were nowhere near good enough two weeks ago, and I thought today we were slightly better.
“We had some chances, a little bit more compact, but at the end of the day we’re out of the cup and that’s hard to take.
“When you’re at a club like Liverpool, the fans and everyone expect us to go far in these competitions and we’ve not managed it.”
When asked what needs to be fixed at Liverpool in the current moment, Robertson gave a lengthy answer. The left-back went on to explain why he thinks the team have performed “worse” than before the turn of the year.
“We need to start winning games, it’s easy to say but it’s harder to fix and that's proven that way,” said Robertson.
“This season has been nowhere near good enough. At the turn of the year we, kind of, wanted a new start. And it’s definitely not got off to that, we’ve probably been worse.
“In the league, we’ve not been anywhere near good enough. In the League Cup we went out against Man City, which was a tough game and was settled by one goal, and again today.
“It's really disappointing, you can’t put your finger on one thing that went wrong. It’s more than that.
“It’s about putting a performance together where all these things click, and that’s proving difficult just now.
“You can tell we’re not as confident in front of goal, you can tell defensively we’re still open in certain areas and we have to close that over.
“We’re on the back of two clean sheets which was a positive, but then today, two disappointing goals.
“We need to try and get the confidence back. It’s easier said than done, but that’s the only way we can pick up results.
“You have to be able to score goals and you have to be able to keep clean sheets. It's the only way to win games and we’re not managing that just now. We need to do it quick.
“We keep saying that, but it’s not helping the fans. I feel sorry for them, the way we’re putting on a show for them just now.
“Behind the goal was packed today, the fans were unbelievable and we let them down again. We’re obviously disappointed to go out of the cup.”
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