Rodgers: Liverpool nowhere near good enough

Posted Sunday, September 21, 2014 by Goal.com

The Reds boss identified a number of issues with his side following their loss at Upton Park, and says his players are not living up the expectations placed upon them

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers admits his team are not living up to expectations after slumping to their third defeat in five Premier League matches, at West Ham.

Rodgers says the Reds were "brilliant" last season, when they finished second behind Manchester City, but says his current crop are currently struggling to reach those heights.

After watching his team go down 3-1 at Upton Park, he told reporters: "I have to look at my own team and we were nowhere near the standard. We made a really slow start and before we knew it we were 2-0 down.

"Lots of elements of our game have been very good over the last couple of seasons but for some reason it just isn’t happening for us at the moment.

"We’ve got a lot of work to do and today was very disappointing in terms of performance."

"We’ve set a new expectancy at the club that we have to deal with now. Liverpool is always a club that people want to beat but it becomes even more that way when you get into the Champions League.

"We have to deal with that. We were brilliant last season. At this point last season we weren’t playing to the level we finished last three or four months. I remember everyone asking ‘Will we get enough goals?’ and we finished with 101 goals. I look at us and think we’ve got a bit of work to do."

West Ham went 2-0 up inside the first seven minutes thanks to goals from Winston Reid and Diafra Sakho, and although Raheem Sterling pulled one back midway through the first half it was Morgan Amalfitano who got the fourth goal late on.

"They had a better intensity than us," Rodgers lamented, before identifying a number of problem areas in his squad. "We had too many long passes. Normally our passing is shorter, crisper, faster, but today we didn’t show enough composure on the ball.

"The intensity of our group wasn’t up to the level we expect, but I’m very fortunate to have a very honest group of players who know that and over the course of the season we’ll get better and better.

"When it went to 2-1 we had enough time and regained a bit of composure. I felt I had to change the system to give us a new dimension in the game.

"We need to re-focus now and get back to winning again. We need to go away and reflect honestly. We’re back on the training ground tomorrow and we know we’ll have to be better than that."