Aston Villa beat Liverpool at Anfield

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was left disappointed by the manner in which his team conceded the three goals that saw the Reds' recent change in fortunes end with a surprise 3-1 defeat against struggling Aston Villa at Anfield.

Rodgers' side had won their last three matches in all competitions, but Liverpool had only themselves to blame as Villa romped to a convincing victory away from home thanks to Christian Benteke's double either side of an Andreas Weimann goal.

Although Steven Gerrard got one back for the hosts in the closing stages, it wasn't close to being enough as the damage had already been done and Rodgers was left fuming at the careless manner of Liverpool's defending.

"We are very disappointed and to be honest I didn't see that coming as our momentum and confidence coming into the game was probably as high as it's been," Rodgers said.

"We probably got punished for our decision making in that first 20 minutes. We were a bit careless. We conceded some poor goals. We weren't quite at it with our intensity and pressure in the game and they were a threat on the counter-attack and got the goals."

Rodgers admitted Liverpool were lacking intensity and energy right from the start and that gave Villa, who started the day just above the relegation zone, the belief that the game and three valuable points were there for the taking.