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Gerrard slams 'soft' Reds

Cape Town - Steven Gerrard did not hold back his criticism of Liverpool after they slumped to a 1-0 loss to FC Basel in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Marco Streller's 52nd minute goal eventually proved the difference between the sides as the Reds continued to stutter in attack on the European stage, having opened Group B with a narrow 2-1 injury-time victory over minnows Ludogorets.

Speaking after this week's St. Jakob-Park capitulation, a furious Gerrard told Sky Sports: "I think we created a good few openings where you would expect us to go and score but we didn't deserve anything out of this game.

"I thought we were too soft all over the pitch. I thought they wanted it more, which is very disappointing.

"Conceding again from a set-piece isn't good enough, so we need to get it right. You're not going to win a football match if you keep conceding from set-pieces.

"I thought we were second-best at times tonight. I think they are an okay team, but I wouldn't say we were blown off the park or that they were fantastic. We made it easy for them and we wanted something out of this game - at least a draw.

"We came for the win, I expected us to win, so it was very disappointing.

"We will discuss it, we will analyse it like we always do." said Gerrard.

"There were signs against Everton that we were coming back closer to where we wanted to be.

"We were aggressive with and without the ball against Everton but we went back to where we have been for most of the season tonight, which is not good enough."

Liverpool will hope to get their struggling season back on track when they host a dangerous West Bromwich Albion side at Anfield on Saturday.

The match kicks off at 16:00. 

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