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Cape Town - Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers admits his side were just
not good enough in the Champions League this season after they failed to
progress past the group stages following Tuesday's 1-1 draw against
Basel.
The Reds entered the final round of Group B fixtures needing nothing less than all three points to progress to the last-16, but found themselves with a mountain to climb after Fabian Frei had put the Swiss side ahead on 25 minutes before Lazar Markovic was red carded just after the hour mark.
Steven Gerrard did manage to fire home a free-kick late on at Anfield, but it proved too little, too late for the Premier League side, who will now head into the Europa League.
"The expectation was to get through the group and we haven't done that," Football411 quotes Rodgers as saying. "It wasn't good enough over the course of the group, but we will learn from the experience. We need to be better.
"First half we were very disappointing, our possession and our position in the game was disappointing. Technically we were way short, but second half the players were magnificent."
Rodgers was also left ruing referee Bjorn Kuipers' decision to send off Markovic, who seemingly caught Behrang Safari with a trailing arm.
"It was never a sending off," the boss said. "If Lazar or any other player gets sent off for that you are going to have many more throughout the competition.
"It was a disappointing decision and if anything the player who goes down should be looked at, the fingernail barely touched his nose and he has down holding his face."
The Reds entered the final round of Group B fixtures needing nothing less than all three points to progress to the last-16, but found themselves with a mountain to climb after Fabian Frei had put the Swiss side ahead on 25 minutes before Lazar Markovic was red carded just after the hour mark.
Steven Gerrard did manage to fire home a free-kick late on at Anfield, but it proved too little, too late for the Premier League side, who will now head into the Europa League.
"The expectation was to get through the group and we haven't done that," Football411 quotes Rodgers as saying. "It wasn't good enough over the course of the group, but we will learn from the experience. We need to be better.
"First half we were very disappointing, our possession and our position in the game was disappointing. Technically we were way short, but second half the players were magnificent."
Rodgers was also left ruing referee Bjorn Kuipers' decision to send off Markovic, who seemingly caught Behrang Safari with a trailing arm.
"It was never a sending off," the boss said. "If Lazar or any other player gets sent off for that you are going to have many more throughout the competition.
"It was a disappointing decision and if anything the player who goes down should be looked at, the fingernail barely touched his nose and he has down holding his face."
