Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers admits regrets over Champions League exit…
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted he has regrets over the club’s Champions League exit, after the Reds were unable to secure the win against Basel necessary to progress beyond the group stage.
The Northern Irishman, who was quoted by Liverpool’s official website, said: “We’re obviously disappointed but we can’t have any excuses about not qualifying – we had enough games.
“The big game for us was away in Basel, where we were disappointing, didn’t perform well, conceded a poor goal and lost out there. We can have no complaints. If you deserve to go through and get the points, then you go through.
“They’re a good side and they are experienced at this level. They’re the top side in Swiss football and they regularly qualify for the Champions League. So they have got experience behind them. Over the course of the games, they’ve deserved to go through.
“We haven’t been good enough over the course of the qualification to get through. We have got to take that on the chin now and move into the next competition, and we’ll hope to do better in that.
“In the first half we weren’t good enough – it’s as simple as that. Technically, we were way short. This is a competition, in particular, where technically you’ve got to be much better than what we were in the first half.
“Our positioning wasn’t good, the options for the guy on the ball weren’t anywhere near what we would want and expect from a team that is based on a technical game. In the second half, we were much better on that front and showed more courage to go and play.
“In the last 10 minutes it looked like we could maybe get the goal; we got into some good areas but the final pass just let us down. We have all learned from the experience this season and we now go into the Europa League, which is very much a prestigious tournament and we want to do very well in that.
“When that comes around, we’ll be really focused and hopefully by that stage our performance level will have improved greatly and we can go on in the second half of the season and do well.”