Rodgers laments Liverpool's lack of concentration after Udinese defeat

Oct 4, 2012 11:50:00 PM

The Anfield boss was frustrated at his side's loss of focus to allow the Italians to race away into a 3-1 lead, despite his team dominating large periods of the match

Brendan Rodgers has called for his Liverpool players to improve their levels of concentration after his side relinquished a lead to lose 3-2 to Udinese in the Europa League on Thursday night.

The Reds' boss was disappointed at giving away three “poor” goals at the beginning of the second half, after initially going into the break with a 1-0 advantage.

And Rodgers admitted that he has grown frustrated by his team's inability to see out a game when on top of their opponents so far this season.


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"I thought we were very, very good in the first half, and the problems that we have in the first 15-20 minutes in the second have been with us from the beginning of the season,” he told ITV.

“We lose concentration and become lazy, and all of a sudden we find ourselves 3-1 down.

"We injected energy and quality into the game in the last 20 minutes, and that's the level the players have been at recently.

"So we're disappointed after such a good first half, controlling and dominating the game - but to then give away such poor goals at the beginning of the second, and then obviously we're chasing the game at 3-1."

Rodgers believes his side’s defensive errors this term puts more pressure on his forward players to perform, something which they must eradicate immediately.

"We can't have to score three, four or five goals to win games,” he continued.

"That's the end we have to work hard on. Some of our quality and domination of the ball is very good, we just concede goals too early and that's something we need to improve on."

Liverpool sit third in Group A, one point behind joint leaders Udinese and Anzhi Makhachkala, but the Ulsterman has not given up hope of qualification to the next round.

He added: "We looked like we were going to win it, then get a point and we ended up with nothing. There are quality teams in this group. It's qualification that we aim for."

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