Gerrard Believes Reds Will Return

Steven Gerrard is backing Liverpool to respond positively to their FA Cup final defeat and be a force to be reckoned with in 2012/13..........

The Reds suffered Wembley heartache on Saturday as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat against Chelsea.

Liverpool's first half showing offered cause for concern, but their response in the second half suggests there is more to come from Kenny Dalglish's side.

"We need to dust ourselves down and we need to respond to the challenge next year," Gerrard told the club's official website.

"We need to come back. Football is about highs and lows, it's certainly been a low today.

Criticism

"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 Liverpool did enough against Chelsea to warrant extra-time, with Andy Carroll stepping off the bench to offer them real hope.

He said: "I think on our second half performance we certainly deserved to take Chelsea to extra-time.

"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.

Frustration

"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."

Carroll thought he has snatched a dramatic leveller late on, but the match officials refused to accept that his header, which was pushed onto the crossbar by Petr Cech, had crossed the line.

"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."

OSM news service