James Milner: 'It was poor performance. Pretty flat'

The Reds' skipper in the Atalanta game did not mince his words.

"It was a poor performance. Pretty flat," James Milner told BT Sport after a 2-0 home defeat against Atalanta.

"There were a lot of changes again today and we never got going ... A lot of players who haven’t played together, and the schedule is very busy, we keep saying it. But we didn’t create enough or play enough and we just didn’t have that sharpness.

"We were always a second late on the press and created very few chances, which was disappointing. It was just one of those nights. It’s something we have to move on from pretty quickly. We have to recover and play well at the weekend."

The most damning stat of the night is that the Reds did not make a single shot on target in 90 minutes. They are still top of the table in Group E but will need to win both of their remaining games to guarantee the first spot.