Sunday 2 November 2014 09:06, UK
Brendan Rodgers felt Newcastle's Moussa Sissoko should have been sent off during Liverpool's 1-0 defeat on Tyneside.
The Reds slipped up again in the Premier League on Saturday as Ayoze Perez struck the only goal of the game at St James' Park in the 73rd minute.
The once-again impressive Sissoko was the architecht of the goal, playing a one-two with full-back Paul Dummett before sending in a low cross which was cut out by Alberto Moreno, but swiftly dispatched into the back of the net by Perez.
That (Sissoko on Allen) was the only challenge I thought that probably looked not as bad at the time, but when you see it again, it was a bad challenge.
However, Rodgers was unhappy that referee Andre Marriner only booked the France international for an earlier challenge on Joe Allen when he felt a red card was the only option.
Rodgers said: "The only one I have seen was Sissoko's challenge on Joe Allen where he should have been sent off, if you watch that again.
"That was the only challenge I thought that probably looked not as bad at the time, but when you see it again, it was a bad challenge."
Liverpool lacked invention throughout and the final score might have been 2-0 had Reds keeper Simon Mignolet not managed to keep out Remy Cabella's goal-bound effort with his foot.
Rodgers added: "I didn't think we deserved to lose the game, but we didn't do enough to win it. We had enough of the ball, we had good movement in front of the ball, we just lacked maybe that wee bit of creativity and invention in the final third of the field.
"Anything we had to deal with until the goal, we dealt well with defensively, there were no real issues. But we made a mistake and the mistake, unfortunately, has cost us the game and that's the biggest disappointment of it all."
Rodgers now faces the task of raising spirits for Tuesday night's daunting Champions League trip to Real Madrid.
He said: "We have worked very hard for a couple of years to get to this level and playing against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu says we've been doing okay.
"We are in a transitional phase and have to do better. It's a wonderful game for us. It is a big week against the best in the world at the moment. We will go into the game hoping to get something out of it."
