ReactionAndy Robertson: There's positives to take but we're disappointed

The current holders exited the tournament at the fourth-round stage following a 3-2 defeat at Etihad Stadium.

The Reds got back on level terms twice on the night through Fabio Carvalho and Mohamed Salah goals, but were then unable to overcome Nathan Ake's eventual winner in the 58th minute.

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Read on for Robertson's post-match interview with Sky Sports…

On the defeat...

We had chances, they had chances. It was quite an open game, I'm sure a good game for the neutral. But obviously we're disappointed to lose the game and be out of the cup. It's really disappointing. First game back, I think you could tell there were tired legs out there for both teams near the end, and when you're pushing to try to get an equaliser it doesn't help. We pushed, we had a few good chances but obviously opened up and they had a few chances. But on the whole it was a pretty open game. But these games are decided on fine margins and unfortunately it went against us today.

On the pace of the game...

When we come up against City, I think both teams kind of always raise their game and always can push that wee bit further. Everyone's back and obviously a really difficult game to start off [with], but it'll be good for us in the legs and that's a positive we can take. But like I said, we're disappointed. We wanted to start this off with a win and try to keep the good form from before the break, but it wasn't meant to be. But there's positives to take.

On the goals Liverpool conceded...

Disappointing. Every one of them could've probably been stopped. The third goal, we've done well to block the cross and then we've just kind of switched off and didn't go out and press the short corner. The first two could've been avoided as well. That's what we have to look at, that's what we have to stop – we always have to be switched on. The goals are disappointing. We've scored two really good goals from our point of view, had a good couple of chances that we could've took. But on the whole it was a pretty even game and they took their chances and we only took two.

On the positives to draw...

We don't really have time to waste, especially in the league [after] a really difficult start before the break. We picked up the last couple of results, which were really positive, and we want to kickstart that. There are positives to take from tonight but ultimately it ended in defeat and we're out of the cup, which is obviously disappointing when you want to go for every trophy available. But now the league starts, we look forward to Boxing Day. It's going to be a really difficult game at Villa – new manager, new style of play and they've started really well under him. We're expecting a really tough game but we have to be ready, we have to be back at our best if we want to climb the league – and that's what we plan to do.