Rodgers: "Big-game experiences will make us better and help us in the future"

Liverpool's youthful squad will take away important lessons from the experience of another big-game defeat, says Brendan Rodgers.

The Northern Irishman's side fell to a surprising 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa in the semi-finals of the FA Cup on Sunday, after goals from Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph booked their passage into the final next month.

The Reds had already been cast out of the last-four in the Capital One Cup this season, losing out to Chelsea over two-legs despite impressive performances both home and away.

But Rodgers' side have also fell in equally as important clashes at home to Basel in the Champions League, as they crashed out in the group-stage after a 1-1 draw, whilst defeats to Manchester United and Arsenal recently put their top-four hopes in jeopardy.

But the Liverpool manager denied the claim that his inexperienced side have struggled to cope mentally in the big-games, insisting they will learn their lessons from such harsh defeats on the big stage.

"We've come close now in two competitions but failed to make the steps," Rodgers said.

"We've reached two semi-finals, we need to have the courage now to play better in the big games because we didn't play well enough (against Villa).

"Technically we weren't quite on it. We looked like the occasion got to us a little bit.

"Sometimes you can want to win too much. Hopefully in the future we can learn from that.

"We've come up short in a few games, it's something we need to improve.

"All these experiences will make them better. We're a team that's grown and changed quite a bit in the summer and all these experiences will hopefully help in the future."