Saturday 16 May 2015 23:53, UK
Brendan Rodgers insisted Liverpool did not get caught up in the occasion of Steven Gerrard’s final game at Anfield and instead blamed defensive errors for their 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday Night Football.
Liverpool took the lead through Adam Lallana’s 26th-minute strike but then Palace wrestled control of the game and after they had equalised through Jason Puncheon’s free-kick just before the break, second-half goals from substitutes Wilfried Zaha and Glenn Murray sealed a deserved win.
Liverpool’s players and fans marked Gerrard's 18-year career at the club both before and after the game, but Rodgers was adamant it had not affected the team’s focus.
He told Sky Sports News HQ: “Initially, we are very disappointed. The crowd were brilliant today for Steven and the team. I thought they were magnificent. Even at 3-1 at the end there, the support they have given Steven and the team was incredible.
“But we didn’t do him justice today, or the supporters. We got the lead and deserved the lead at that point, but we defended very poorly today.
“Overall, our performance, in particular in the second half, was nowhere near what we expected. Individually, in certain situations, we defended very poorly. We weren’t aggressive enough and certainly not good enough in those moments.
“It wasn’t anything to do with the occasion or anything like that. We just didn’t defend well enough.”
Rodgers felt that Zaha was offside for Palace’s second goal and pointed out that the foul that led to the penalty from which Murray scored was outside of the box.
However, he acknowledged that Liverpool’s poor display emphasised the scale of the building work he has in front of him this summer.
“We are disappointed with two of the goals,” he added. “We felt that the cross was offside before Zaha gets a finish on it, and the penalty clearly is outside. It’s a poor decision.
“There is a big job to be done in the summer. There are areas that we need to improve on a lot if we are going to push on, but that is something we will assess. It’s not the time for it now, but certainly over the course of the summer we have work to do.”
