Brendan Rodgers has expressed his disappointment in some of his Liverpool youngsters following their FA Cup exit at the hands of Oldham on Sunday.
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The Reds manager had named a changed side for the encounter against the Latics to the one that trounced Norwich 5-0 in the Premier League a week ago, resting captain Steven Gerrard and midfield enforcer Lucas.
But following a poor showing at Boundary Park, Rodgers rounded on his young side after Joe Allen's 80th-minute goal was not enough to prevent the Merseysiders from being dumped out of the historic cup competition.
"I was disappointed with the young players today I've got to be honest," he said. "We started the first-half poorly and we started the second-half and got punished.
"We've got a big week of games but our mentality in that opening period was poor and it ended up costing us.
"We are trying to give them [the younger players] experience and let them see what it was like to play for Liverpool. It is not just about playing for Liverpool, you have to be competitive and be part of a group that is going to challenge for trophies.
"It is not enough to play for Liverpool and get up for the Arsenal and Manchester City games [later this week] because if we are going to win trophies you need to be able to come to places like Oldham and win and we weren't good enough for that."
Rodgers acknowledged that a difference in styles between the two teams, separated by two tiers of English football, may have contributed to his side's abject performance, but felt they should have shown more backbone in their attempt to combat the League One outfit.
"We were just too much on the back foot early on, you really have to be aggressive," he said. "These are different games to the Premier League. Premier League games are nice, you go in and teams will pass the ball and give you time to get your shape.
"These games are a different type of football, you have to roll your sleeves up be strong and aggressive and unfortunately for us there were too many who weren't.
"It is just a different type of football where you have to stand up and be counted. It is great to put young players in but you have to have personality and the young players disappointed."
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