Brendan Rodgers feels that his Liverpool team failed to deal with the occasion after losing their FA Cup semi-final tie 2-1 against Aston Villa this afternoon.
Tim Sherwood's men were at Liverpool from the off, pressing the Reds and starting the better. But it was Liverpool who took the lead, with Philippe Coutinho firing the Reds ahead in the 30th minute.
Aston Villa however levelled through Christian Benteke in the 36th minute and continued to boss the game, leading Rodgers to make a number of tactical changes, while he also brought Mario Balotelli on off the bench at half time.
A neat Aston Villa move in the 54th minute saw Fabian Delph score, while Liverpool then had a Balotelli effort ruled out for offside and slipped to defeat.
And Rodgers could have no complaints, feeling his side did not deal with the occasion.
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He told BT Sport: "Dealing with the occasion is something we need to improve at.
"There have been other big games where we have dealt with that very well, but there are others where we haven't.
"We need to focus on the performances and if we do that then normally get the victories. But today it wasn't at the right level."
He also admitted that Aston Villa were the better team on the day and deserve their spot in the final against Arsenal.
"We were very disappointing – Villa were much better than us. We were nervous for some reason, maybe when you want to win something so much perhaps it plays on your mind.
"For a team with a lot of energy we has no energy today. It is disappointing that in another big game we didn't show that courage. Villa did, they had good energy and are playing with a bit more freedom."
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