Kenny Dalglish blamed the referee and a congested fixture schedule for Liverpool’s latest flop.
Liverpool 1-2 Wigan: Sunday Mirror match report
But not all the fans saw it that way.
Manager Dalglish’s side left the Anfield pitch to boos after slumping to a defeat against relegation-threatened Wigan – their fifth loss in six league matches.
And Twitter was buzzing with criticism from fans at the Reds’ performance.
Luis Suarez scored Liverpool’s equaliser, but had a second disallowed by Lee Mason for handball before Wigan captain Gary Caldwell plundered the winner.
Dalglish said: “There was no reason for the referee to chalk off that goal. It hit him on the shoulder – that’s what I thought. We can’t control the referee – only ourselves.
“They looked a bit tired. We had a lot of possession in the game, we gave away the ball quite a lot in vital positions and it is not because they cannot play, but tiredness.
“If you play Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday, it is going to take its toll and a lot of the lads have played three games.
“For us, that would be a reasoning behind our own performance.
“We were disappointed because a lot of the final balls in good positions we didn’t deliver and we put that down to tiredness.”
It was Liverpool’s 10th defeat of the season.
Asked whether he thought better performances were around the corner, the Dalglish replied: “I’m not clairvoyant.
“We have extolled the virtues of the players here many times and it (defeat) is not because we cannot pass to each other, it is because we have not had enough players at our disposal to give them adequate rest.
“It is a problem we face, but it is a problem dictated to clubs and players by television schedules and maybe the fact we have done well in two cup competitions, which has given us a lot of extra fixtures.”
Liverpool have won the Carling Cup and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, but their hopes of Champions League qualification are in tatters.
But for some on Twitter, it was not good enough.
One of the tweets said: “This isn’t pessimism. This is realism. Liverpool are just not good enough. No time for sentiments. Kenny is god but time to move on.”
Another read: “The worst Liverpool team and performance for many years. Awful signings and clueless on the pitch. Kenny has to go, sorry.”
And a third added: “The only things saving Kenny at the moment are his cup runs and his name. This league form is abysmal given the money spent.”
Wigan manager Roberto Martinez dismissed Dalglish’s complaint about the disallowed goal, insisting: “I’ve seen the replay and it was clearly handball. We all know Suarez is an artist at getting free-kicks and good situations for himself, but Lee Mason was strong and has to be congratulated.
“It is a historic day for Wigan to win at Anfield – to defy the odds and history. I don’t think anyone can argue that we didn’t deserve it. I want to dedicate the win to our fans.”
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