A frustrated Jürgen Klopp bemoaned Liverpool's poor decision-making as they lost 2-0 away at Leicester City on Tuesday night and insisted, had they made wiser decisions, they could have won the game.
Jamie Vardy took his season's total to 18 goals with a second-half brace, beating Simon Mignolet with a stunning 25-yard strike which dipped over the Belgian, before being on hand to meet a fortuitous deflection for his second - which was enough for a comfortable win.
It leaves the Reds a colossal 11 points off of the top-four and 16 behind the league-leading Foxes, who were better in all departments on the night, and Klopp was left irritated by the fact his side failed to take advantage of the chances they had.
Boss disappointed with his side's final third decision-making
Klopp said that he was "still not completely in the mood to analyse" after the defeat, admitting that Vardy "made the difference" at the King Power Stadium and saying: "It's nice to be in the stadium when he scores the goal of the month, but in an ideal world you would not be the manager of the other team."
But despite insisting there wasn't "much more" he could say, he declared that his side's plan "was obviously good" although they were beaten.
"We forced ourselves to play," added Klopp, who declared that they "knew about their [Leicester's] kind of defending" and the fact they "had higher pressing and things like this."
He said that they "have to play over the wings" to counter their style and, reflecting on his side's attacking performance, insisted: "We had time, we had the ball, we had opportunities in the box but everybody could see we didn't make the right decision often enough."
The German also bemoaned that his side "didn't get cooler" as the game wore on in the second-half and said it "the problem" that their "decisions didn't get better."
He explained that the Reds "had the ball in their box" but they "didn't shoot" and then "one second later, Vardy shot from 35-yards and the ball was in" which Klopp believes "says most about the game."
He acknowledged to journalists after full-time that he didn't "feel too good in this moment" saying that whilst he can "absolutely no problem" accept the defeat, he believes "with a few things we would have done differently today, we could have won this game."
"If you can win a game, you should do it," added Klopp, who was left annoyed at his side's failure to claim maximum points, half-heartedly joking: "I need a few minutes to cool down."
Reds' problems were not that they didn't put enough effort in, insists Klopp
Since Leicester's last game, a home win over Stoke City last month, Liverpool had played three matches as they played a total of nine across January.
But despite this marking the start of yet another packed month, Klopp vowed that his side weren't short in intensity against Claudio Ranieri's side.
He suggested that "maybe the reason" is that Liverpool had "six games more in January" but insisted with the "intensity we played with" that they "had a lot of good situations."
The Reds boss lamented his side's failure to make the right decision when they "had the ball in the right position" and described that the problem "was not to run more or to run more intensively" but rather the fact they "made the wrong decision" and "that's all."
Klopp spoke about how Leicester "had 10 days off" whilst his side "had three games" and said that if they "could have played at the same intensity" and been "absolutely even" with their opponents then the home side "would have done something wrong."
Klopp insists he must analyse what went wrong and why
Quizzed as to whether his side can improve, with their search for a goal now over five hours of football, Klopp acknowledged that "of course we can do better" and said he must go home and "think about why [they didn't perform]" and then "have to change it."
He explained that they have had games where they have "done it much better" but bemoaned that they haven't "often enough to have won games in a row" and said it's their "situation" and they "have to work on it."
A downbeat Klopp confided to reporters, saying: "To be honest, I'm not in a position to explain to you what I need to do in the next days" as he admitted: "I don't feel too good and need a few more minutes, that's all."