Brendan Rodgers bemoans "bad day at the office"

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has described his team's performance during their 3-1 home defeat to Aston Villa as "a bit flat".

The Reds went into the game having won their last three matches, however they were swept aside as Christian Benteke scored his seventh and eighth career goals for the Midlanders.

"It's a disappointing result and performance from us," Rodgers told BBC Sport. "I don't know where that came from as it's not been like us. We were careless with our final ball and didn't end up taking our chances.

"We will have to take that as a bad day at the office and move on. I felt today we probably weren't quite sharp enough. It was a clear penalty [when Ciaran Clark pulled Daniel Agger's shirt] and if you get that it is 2-1 and the pressure can start to build.

"But they got their third and we went a bit flat. Overall, we didn't do enough and we must learn from it and move on."

Liverpool now sit 12th in the Premier League table - 20 points off the top and just 13 points above bottom club Reading.