Rafael Benitez offered no excuses for what he accepted was one of the poorest Liverpool performances under his stewardship after they slumped to a shock 1-0 Champions League defeat at home to Marseille.
The result leaves the Reds in third spot in Group A with just one point, needing now to win at Besiktas or even at Marseille to have a genuine chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.
Liverpool boss Benitez made some surprise team selections, with Sebastian Leto and Mohamed Sissoko in the starting line-up ahead of star names like John Arne Riise and Javier Mascherano.
But Benitez, who has been criticised for not using the likes of Fernando Torres or Peter Crouch regularily enough, dismissed the suggestion, saying: "You can talk about team selection, and we have been talking about big names, but those big names did not play well from the start."
He added: "It was a poor game for us, we did not play well and we did not make many chances. It was clearly not our day."
Marseille deservedly scored 13 minutes from time through the outstanding Mathieu Valbuena, and they now have a 100% record of two wins from their opening two matches to top the group.
Their new coach Erik Gerets, in charge for the first time, said: "We were not expected to win this one, but we felt if we took the initiative and tried to attack, it would be a good tactic.
"We tried to get men forward and that is what brought us this victory."
Benitez now has to lift his side after a string of recent poor performances, including a fortunate draw at Porto last month in this group.
He said: "We could not create any clear chances, maybe a few at the end, but it was just not enough.
"It could well be described as one of the worst performances I have had as manager, certainly at Anfield."
Liverpool now face a double header home and away against Besiktas, the group's bottom club.
Benitez said: "To get through in this competition you need wins. Draws are not enough.
"We now know that we must win our next match away to Besiktas, and we have to regain our confidence and think now about our next two league games with Spurs on Sunday and then at Everton.
"We must concentrate of getting three points in both of them, and then see what happens when we go to Turkey for the next Champions League game."
Liverpool boss Benitez made some surprise team selections, with Sebastian Leto and Mohamed Sissoko in the starting line-up ahead of star names like John Arne Riise and Javier Mascherano.
But Benitez, who has been criticised for not using the likes of Fernando Torres or Peter Crouch regularily enough, dismissed the suggestion, saying: "You can talk about team selection, and we have been talking about big names, but those big names did not play well from the start."
He added: "It was a poor game for us, we did not play well and we did not make many chances. It was clearly not our day."
Marseille deservedly scored 13 minutes from time through the outstanding Mathieu Valbuena, and they now have a 100% record of two wins from their opening two matches to top the group.
Their new coach Erik Gerets, in charge for the first time, said: "We were not expected to win this one, but we felt if we took the initiative and tried to attack, it would be a good tactic.
"We tried to get men forward and that is what brought us this victory."
Benitez now has to lift his side after a string of recent poor performances, including a fortunate draw at Porto last month in this group.
He said: "We could not create any clear chances, maybe a few at the end, but it was just not enough.
"It could well be described as one of the worst performances I have had as manager, certainly at Anfield."
Liverpool now face a double header home and away against Besiktas, the group's bottom club.
Benitez said: "To get through in this competition you need wins. Draws are not enough.
"We now know that we must win our next match away to Besiktas, and we have to regain our confidence and think now about our next two league games with Spurs on Sunday and then at Everton.
"We must concentrate of getting three points in both of them, and then see what happens when we go to Turkey for the next Champions League game."
Copyright (c) Press Association
Related Articles
Joeys boss keen to cap Lucas Neill's whizkid son
'It's massive': Liverpool signs rising Aussie goalkeeping star
