The Reds followed up an unconvincing victory over Ludogorets with a 1-0 defeat in Basel and the club captain admits that his side deserved nothing from the Group B game

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says that his side were “soft” in their Champions League defeat by Basel and admits that their start to the season is simply not good enough.

The Reds were undone in Switzerland by a Marco Streller goal after they failed to clear a set-piece and could not find an equaliser.

Gerrard described Basel as only an “okay team” and was again left to rue his side’s fragility from the dead ball.

“We created a good few openings where you would expect us to go and score but we didn’t deserve anything out of this match,” the midfielder told Sky Sports.

“We were too soft all over the pitch and they wanted it more than us, which is very disappointing. Conceding again from set pieces isn’t good enough and we need to get it right.

“We were second best at times. Against an okay team, I wouldn’t say we were played off the park or they were fantastic but we made it easy for them. We wanted something out of this game, at least a draw. We came for the win and I expected us to win and so it’s very disappointing.

“We’ll discuss it and analyse. There were signs against Everton that we were getting back to where we want to be – we were aggressive without the ball – but we went back to the way we’ve been all season and it’s not good enough.”

Liverpool now face Real Madrid in back-to-back games in the Champions League, on October 22 at Anfield and November 4 at the Santiago Bernabeu.