Steven Gerrard was left to rue a lack of cutting edge as Aston Villa bowed out of the FA Cup against Manchester United on Monday night.
The head coach saw Scott McTominay score an early opener before his side dominated large parts of a lively encounter at Old Trafford.
Villa had two goals disallowed as they toiled unsuccessfully for an equaliser, leaving Gerrard with mixed emotions after a strong display.
He said: “I’m disappointed to go out of the cup, I wanted a really positive run in the competition.
“The team we picked tonight was an obvious team because of what we have available, but I thought the performance for large periods was very good. We dominated for large periods.
“We created enough to score goals here tonight. Again, I’m frustrated. We’re nearly there.
“There’s still a gap, and for me and the players we need to fill that gap by demanding more in the dressing room – keep coaching them, keep working with them, keep supporting them, keep trying to add to it to get stronger – and we’ll turn nearly into good.
“I’ve seen enough tonight to be positive about, even though I’m frustrated to go out of the competition. We’ll dust ourselves down and go again Saturday.”
Ollie Watkins returned to the starting XI and posed a significant threat to United, striking the crossbar with Villa’s best chance of the game.
And Gerrard wants to see his players being clinical in the matches to come, starting when they host Ralf Rangnick’s team on Saturday.
“We need to reward ourselves when we’re in that rhythm and we’re dominating, creating chances,” he said.
“At this level, you’ve got to execute, you’ve got to be ruthless, you’ve got to take your chances.
“In terms of effort and what the players have given to the game, I can’t ask anymore. All I ask is that we become more of a ruthless team and we start defending our box a bit better from crosses because if we don’t, we’re going to concede goals going forward.”
