More European woe for Rodgers, Lovren & co - Besikitas 1 Liverpool 0

As there was a bit of forced and deliberate rotation in the victory at Southampton, our manager decided to continue this theme in the second leg of the Europa League.

We made four changes as Daniel Sturridge, Mario Balotelli, Kolo Touré, and Alberto Moreno all moved from the bench to the starting line-up.  The injured duo Jordan Henderson and Philippe Coutinho were left back in England while Lazar Marković served the second game of his four-match ban.  Adam Lallana dropped to the bench.

Our manager felt such changes were required as Liverpool's next opponent, Manchester City, played their European game two days earlier.

The opening stages of the game were cagey as both sides didn't create anything of note.  The early yellow card for an enthusiastic and hard-working Mario Balotelli was a slight worry but he continued the rest of the half sensibly by holding the ball up excellently, tracking back, and playing good passes in the final third. He was also the subject of some close attention but remained calm.

Sturridge and Sterling had excellent chances to give Liverpool the lead as they were put through on goal on the angle but showed either indecisiveness or over-elaboration before squandering their respective opportunities.  Sturridge played Moreno in on 34 minutes for a shot straight at the Besiktas goalkeeper Gönen and Raheem Sterling also tested the home goalkeeper after great work by the superb Alberto Moreno who has now secured the left wing-back position.

By the end of the first half, Liverpool seemed to be in control of the game and created more chances in one half than they did in two halves at Anfield.  Besiktas' ploy of playing the ball over the top and down the channels to trouble the wider centre backs was generally handled with comfort.

Simon Mignolet was really only forced into one save in the half.

Half-time thoughts: Liverpool controlled the game with Balotelli playing an important role in attack.  Daniel Sturridge would be wise to avoid taking too many touches when Liverpool create chances on the counter attack.  Dejan Lovren had a solid half defensively but appears to be a basic defender who is unable to pass effectively.

Beskitas started the second half with a greater tempo and after five minutes, good work down the home side's left flank eventually created a long-range shooting opportunity for Kurtulus that was saved by Mignolet. Two minutes later, Sosa followed that up with another shot outside of the area that was comfortably saved by Mignolet.  Our right side was being troubled by Slaven Bilić's team but our defensive shape was acceptable.

We continued to sit deep and invite Besiktas on without responding with any effective counter attacks to trouble the Turkish side.  With 20 minutes to go, our attacking players looked frustrated and out of ideas.  This was the cue for our manager to change the game by making a wise tactical substitution, but declined and then disaster struck with Gökhan Töre's influence growing on the left and Arslan's lovely strike after 72 minutes levelling the tie.

Our manager responded by closing the stable door after the horse had bolted - it was clear change was needed as we were getting over run in midfield so he brought on Javier Manquillo for Jordan Ibe and then Adam Lallana for Mario Balotelli.

Demba Ba hit the cross bar in added time with a shot after a corner and nearly proved to be a nemesis for us again.

90 minutes: We went into extra time in a two-legged cup tie for the second time this season and needed to offer more in attack on the counter against an energetic, harrying Besiktas side.

We lacked energy in the opening stages of extra time and Simon Mignolet denied Demba Ba at his near post before Martin Skrtel hooked clear.  Demba Ba was involved again as he set up Töre. The first half of extra time was somewhat difficult for us.

Besiktas looked for a winning goal in extra time but couldn't create much in the second period of extra time.

The game went to penalties. Besiktas went first in the shoot-out. Demba Ba scored, Rickie Lambert scored with an emphatic penalty, Töre scored but Mignolet went the right way, Adam Lallana sent Gönen the wrong way, Veli Kavlak sent a high penalty successfully into the net, and Emre Can put it in the corner but Gönen went the right way. 3-3. Atiba Hutchinson stepped up...and slammed the ball into the net. Joe Allen stepped up and did the same. 4-4. Tolgay Arslan made it 5-4.

Dejan Lovren stepped up. Could the commanding and vocal defender handle the pressure and score? We had to score. Could Lovren do it? No, he couldn't and we were out.

Full-time thoughts: Another last 32 exit for Brendan Rodgers in the Europa League, and the wait to win a European knock-out tie in the Rogders era goes on.  I felt tactically we should have just kept the winning formation 3-4-2-1 but bizarrely we decided to change it and it has now cost us an alternative chance to get back into the Champions League next season. It's all about domestic football now.

Joe Allen was exceptionally poor with his distribution during the game and is not good enough to play regularly.  Sturridge and Sterling both had chances to kill the tie off in the first half but were both very wasteful, we needed clinical finishing yesterday – they had first time shots at critical moments they over-elaborated and it has cost us dear.

It was a lack lustre performance overall and with some of our senior players having to play 120 minutes does not bode well for their energy sapping contest versus Man City on Sunday.

Why oh why would our manager agree to Lovren taking the 5th and decisive penalty when he is so low on confidence already?  It was another shocking decision to add to our manager lists as once again he was found to be tactically inept in Europe, this was not the time to play 2 strikers it was about securing the midfield, winning the game then moving on but our manager gave the initiative gained in the first leg back to the Turkish side.

Man of the Match - Alberto Moreno - only real solid performer on the night always provided an attacking option on the left.

Besiktas: Gonen, Opare, Franco, Uysal, Kurtulus, Hutchinson, Kavlak, Tore, Sosa, Sahan, Ba.

Subs: Fidayeo, Pektemek, Ozyakup, Arslan, Frei, Boral, Nukan.

Liverpool: Mignolet, Toure, Lovren, Skrtel, Moreno, Can, Allen, Sterling, Ibe(Manquillo 76), Sturridge (Lambert 106), Balotelli(Lallana 82)

Subs: Ward, Lambert, Manquillo, Lallana, Borini, Brannagan, Williams.

Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)

Attendance: 63,324

Manager's comments:-

"We're disappointed, of course, to go out in the manner that we did. We created opportunities in the first half, to make it really difficult for them.

"Over the course of the game, we defended very well and limited them to very few chances. But the one mistake we made, we got punished for, where we just got too deep and they scored.

"Up until they scored their goal, we were quite comfortable in the game. Of course, we're away from home, and the objective for us was to keep a clean sheet.

"We created chances in the first half and in the second half we were comfortable. But we were missing a lot of our creativity this evening.

"But it's no excuse. There were a lot of young players getting great experience with other players who are creative players. We played with two strikers, so it was an attacking line-up.

"And once Besiktas got the goal, we started to have more of the ball again, but we didn't create so much.

"But I didn't think Besiktas created so much either. It was always a tight game, but we just failed to finish the opportunities that we had in the first half."

"A lot of our young players got great experience this evening in a fantastic atmosphere," said the boss. "The Besiktas supporters were outstanding, as were the Liverpool supporters.

"To come so far and give us that support, we really appreciate that. But of course we're disappointed, having put so much into the game.

"It was a good game, there wasn't a great deal in the game; the pitch was very difficult for both teams. Congratulations to Besiktas, they have gone through.

"We now just have to concentrate on our league campaign that is starting to go well for us. Our objective this season was to win a cup. It's not going to be in this competition, but we have an excellent opportunity in [the FA Cup]."