Rodgers is disappointed after the Reds exit last night
What had begun as a night of reminiscing and hope ended in misery and finger-pointing for Liverpool at the Ataturk last night, as the Reds were eliminated from the Europa League at the first knock out hurdle.
Liverpool and Rodgers will be keen to consign this seasons’ exploits in Europe to very deep recesses of their minds, with none of the performances in either the Champions League or Europa League proving to be in any way acceptable.
Speaking to the clubs’ official site after the game, Rodgers said: “We’re disappointed, of course, to go out in the manner that we did. We created opportunities in the first half, to make it really difficult for them.
“Over the course of the game, we defended very well and limited them to very few chances. But the one mistake we made, we got punished for, where we just got too deep and they scored.
“Up until they scored their goal, we were quite comfortable in the game. Of course, we’re away from home, and the objective for us was to keep a clean sheet.
“We created chances in the first half and in the second half we were comfortable. But we were missing a lot of our creativity this evening.”
Many of the players that started last night had either been out through injury, lack of form or from being just out of favour so, while many will point to tiredness as a reason for Liverpool’s languid and lazy display, that really shouldn’t have been an excuse.
However, despite the poor display, the home side created very little of note last night, with the performances of Mignolet, Skrtel and Joe Allen being few of the brighter points of the night.
He continued: “But it’s no excuse. There were a lot of young players getting great experience with other players who are creative players. We played with two strikers, so it was an attacking line-up.
“And once Besiktas got the goal, we started to have more of the ball again, but we didn’t create so much.
“But I didn’t think Besiktas created so much either. It was always a tight game, but we just failed to finish the opportunities that we had in the first half.”
Given the ignominious way the team have exited both European cups, is it now imperative that the team achieve fourth and/or win the FA Cup? Let us know your thoughts and how you’re feeling about last night’s exit.
I'm a 32 year old Liverpool fan, living in the heart of the City Centre. I've supported the club since the day I was born and have been writing articles for L4L for over 3 years, writing close over 350 articles in that time. My favorite player of the past generation is Sami Hyypia.
I am the current editor for L4L, with my day job being in R&D for the NHS.
The only positive we can take from this match is that,at least, we have learnt that we can’t rely on Sterling & Sturidge. They have being agonizingly poor of recent. Against Besiktas, it was like we were playing with nine men as both Sturidge. &Sterim were totally missing. We are simply reaping the poor fruits of our poor summer business.
He keeps saying its a young team but only two players are actually young, Ibe and Sterling. It’s just a another pathetic excuse.
Ok I forgot Can who is 20 but still BR is clutching at straws with his excuses
The only positive we can take from this match is that,at least, we have learnt that we can’t rely on Sterling & Sturidge. They have being agonizingly poor of recent. Against Besiktas, it was like we were playing with nine men as both Sturidge. &Sterim were totally missing. We are simply reaping the poor fruits of our poor summer business.