Robertson: “We’ve Not Been Anywhere Near Good Enough”

Liverpool’s season of disappointment continued today as they were knocked out of the FA Cup following a 2-1 defeat at Brighton. While the Reds improved upon an embarrassing 3-0 Premier League loss to the same side just two weeks ago, their play was still nowhere near the standards they’ve set for themselves in recent years.

Despite showing some signs of life in the loss, Liverpool left-back Andrew Robertson was understandably disappointed with the performance in his post-match interview with ITV,

“Obviously bitterly disappointing. I thought it was proper cup tie, end to end and both had chances,” Robertson said. “We were a lot more competitive than we were two weeks ago but that didn’t take much. We were nowhere near good enough two weeks ago and I thought today, slightly better.”

“We had some chances and were a wee bit more compact, but at the end of the day we are out of the cup and that’s hard to take. When you’re at a club like Liverpool the fans and everyone expect us to go far in these competitions and we’ve not managed it.”

The loss was just the latest in a trend of disappointing displays this season, and the fullback made no excuses. He knows Liverpool simply aren’t playing well enough right now. They had hoped to get a fresh start when they returned from the World Cup break, but Robertson admitted those hopes have been dashed.

“We need to start winning games, it’s easy to say but harder to fix. It’s proven that way. This season has been nowhere near good enough. At the turn of the year, we kinda wanted a new start and it’s definitely not got off to that. We’ve probably been worse.

“In the league, we’ve not been anywhere near good enough. Out of the League Cup against Manchester City, which was a tough game and settled by one goal, and again today. Out of both cups, it’s really disappointing.”

As for what exactly is causing such a poor run of results, the Scottish defender admitted there isn’t a single issue causing the dreadful form.

“You can’t put your finger on one thing that’s wrong, it’s more than that,” said Robertson. “It’s trying to put in a performance together where all these things click, and that’s proving difficult just now.”

“You can tell we are not as confident in front of goal, you can tell defensively we’re still a wee bit open in certain areas. We’re on the back of two clean sheets, which is a positive, but today two disappointing goals and they had a couple of big chances as well.”

Unfortunately, when the problems are difficult to pinpoint, finding and creating solutions tends to be just as difficult. It’s been said ad nauseam that Liverpool need to right the ship, and quickly, but that simply isn’t happening. Robertson admitted as much and expressed sorrow that the side aren’t giving the fans the performances they deserve.

“We need to try and get the confidence back, but it’s easier said than done. That’s the only way we can pick up results. You have to be able to score goals and keep clean sheets, it’s how you win games and we’re not managing that just now.

“We need to do it quick, but we keep saying that.

“It doesn’t help the fans. We feel sorry for them the way we’re putting on a show just now for them. Behind the goal was packed today, the fans were unbelievable. We let them down again and we’re obviously disappointed to be out of the cup.”