After losing his first cup semi-final as manager of Rangers, Steven Gerrard appeared initially reluctant to leave the blame at his players' door.
A 1-0 defeat to Aberdeen was enough to deny Rangers the chance of meeting Brendan Rodgers' Celtic in this year's Scottish League Cup final.
Quick to criticise the general manner of his side's performance today, the Liverpool legend was keen to focus all the negative attention on himself.
"I probably wouldn't have played [Alfredo] Morelos against Ayr United," Gerrard answered when reflecting on what he could have done differently.
"That is one regret swirling round in my head right now. Listen, I'll take responsibility for this performance, I picked the players, I picked the game plan, I signed a lot of the players, so, if anyone wants to point any fingers throw them my way."
An incredibly frank, self-deprecating assessment of a disappointing afternoon for the young English manager, it didn't take too long for Steven Gerrard to seemingly reassess that outlook.
"We lacked quality, belief, someone who has got a bit of courage on the big stage to go and make a name for themselves," Gerrard believed.
"[But] that won't be our last semi-final, we'll continue to push as hard as we can to give [the fans] more days out like this.
"When we do get to this stage again, hopefully we'll have better players in the final third who can go and take us that step further.
"If they're not with us right now, I'll find them."
Asked whether his current crop of players could learn from today's defeat ahead of these hypothetical semi-finals to come, Gerrard didn't sound too confident.
"That's if they get the opportunity to play in another semi-final. By the time that comes around we might have different personell, I might pick a different game plan, different individuals to play.
"The players that were picked today, when we got to the last bit, the business end, nobody delivered."
You can watch the interview below.
🎥 REACTION: Steven Gerrard spoke to @RangersTV after today's Betfred Cup semi-final at Hampden. pic.twitter.com/R6MMLo6FlJ
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) October 28, 2018
