BRENDAN RODGERS admitted Liverpool’s home defeat to Aston Villa had taken him by surprise, labelling the loss as a “self-inflicted” one.

The Reds slipped to 12th in the Premier League table after going down 3-1 to Paul Lambert’s strugglers at Anfield.

It was only their second defeat in 12 league games but the manner of it – against a side who had begun the day 17th in the table – had Rodgers searching for answers.

“I find it hard to know where that performance came from to be honest,” said the Reds boss. “We probably couldn’t have arrived into the game in a better moment.

“It was a bad day at the office, but the lesson from today is that whatever team you are playing against, you need to make sure you are right on it. I think today we were careless in our play.

“We could easily have been 3-0 up in the game but we didn’t make the final pass or have that bit of quality in the top end of the field, and then we went on to concede some poor goals.

“If we take at least two those chances in the early period then we go on to win the game.

“But we didn’t, and we got punished. We have to learn from it.”

Rodgers’ pre-match talk had centred around whether Liverpool could conceivably challenge for a place in the Premier League’s top four, or even higher, but his side were given a chastening lesson here as two goals from Christian Benteke and one from Andreas Weimann gave Villa just their second away league win in 17 matches.

“The lads are very disappointed, because that wasn’t us,” Rodgers said.

“That wasn’t how we’ve been. We’ve had a good week’s work but we were flat.”

“All week we’ve been talking about the possibility of top four but for us it’s going to be steady progress.

“There are going to be steps forwards, like we’ve done in the last couple of weeks, and today we made a step backwards.

“The players are bitterly disappointed, we all are. But we’ll go into next week’s work, reflect on it, and make sure we come back next week and are bang-on where we’ve been for a lot of the season, with a much greater intensity to our game.”

Rodgers admitted his side had shown signs of tiredness, and says he may well take the opportunity to rest players such as Joe Allen and Raheem Sterling, who have been virtual ever-presents in the league.

“There’s a few who need that breather,” he said.

“That’s something I will look at. There is no doubt that (Sterling) is one who does need it. I’ve thought about it over the last couple of weeks.

“But in order to do that you need to have that depth. That’s obviously something I have to think about, who do I put in? Raheem’s a very fit boy, but he needs that mental rest as well.

“For the kid, it is about efficiency. We want to help him technically and tactically, and he’s still very young. That time will come when he will need a rest. Working with Joe and seeing Joe, too, he is another one who needs a breather.”

Rodgers, who believes his side should have had a penalty when Daniel Agger was brought down, also dismissed suggestions that expectation levels from Liverpool supporters were a problem for his side.

“No, it is a great privilege,” he said. “I’d rather deal with that as a manager than not.

“I know the great history and the standards set at this club over the years. You’ve got to take that and embrace that.

“I think we’ve been making good progress, but we’re not perfect. Here at Anfield, you always want to win games, but this was a bad day at the office.

“We all want to be at the top end, but when you come to Liverpool you can’t complain about expectations.”