Stevie: We'll bounce back
Steven Gerrard tonight reflected on the narrow 2-1 FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea and insisted Liverpool will dust themselves down and embrace the challenge of bouncing back.
The Reds found themselves two goals down five minutes after half-time at Wembley; however, they managed to half the deficit through substitute Andy Carroll and went painstakingly close to drawing level and taking the final to extra-time.
Afterwards, Gerrard vowed that the team are committed to coming back stronger next year.
"We need to dust ourselves down and we need to respond to the challenge next year," the skipper told Liverpoolfc.tv. "We need to come back. Football is about highs and lows, it's certainly been a low today.
"We've been fantastic in the cup competitions this year and the players deserve a lot of credit for that. We haven't been good enough in the league this year and we deserve criticism and we need to take criticism like men.
"We need to do better. We're Liverpool Football Club; we're no seventh or eighth in the league. We're better than that."
Gerrard believes he and his teammates did enough over the 90 minutes to force extra-time against a Chelsea side who had secured a two-goal lead over the Reds after 51 minutes of play in the final.
"I think on our second half performance we certainly deserved to take Chelsea to extra-time," he added. "But I don't think we did enough over the 90 minutes to deserve to win the game. I think, given the pressure we put them under second half, we're a bit disappointed we didn't get extra-time out of it.
"That's the frustration. Looking back, we never got going until 30 minutes into the game and I think we got even better once Andy came on and we finished the game a lot stronger than Chelsea. That's why I believe we just did enough to get a draw out of the game. I wouldn't say we did enough to win the game.
The Reds thought they had pulled level when Andy Carroll powered a header at Peter Cech on 81 minutes only for the 'keeper to push the ball on to the bar.
Liverpool fans and players alike believed the ball had crossed the line; however, officials disagreed and the score remained 2-1.
"It's difficult for the officials," continued Gerrard. "Obviously from a biased point of view, we've got an argument with the computer image but the officials have got an impossible task when it’s so close and until technology comes in, then with decisions like that, you can't really put a big argument forward.
"It's one of those things: Chelsea got a bit of luck against Tottenham in the semi; they got a bit of luck again today. Maybe this was their year."