Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager, admitted that his players are lacking in confidence following a 3-1 defeat by Crystal Palace.

The Anfield side have now won just once in their last seven matches.

Liverpool looked like halting a run of three straight defeats when Rickie Lambert broke his duck by tucking home a pass from Adam Lallana inside the opening two minutes. With Mario Balotelli sidelined with a groin injury, Lambert was given only his second league start since joining in the summer and did not take long to take advantage of his chance.

However, that was as good as it got for Rodgers' side as Dwight Gayle - who scored twice in the memorable 3-3 draw at Selhurst Park last season - levelled after Yannick Bolasie's driven effort come back off the post. The second half started slowly but two goals in a three-minute period were enough to seal a well-deserved and much-needed win for the home side, with Bolasie supplying Joe Ledley to put them ahead before captain Mile Jedinak bent home a 30-yard free-kick to seal the win.

The defeat leaves Liverpool 18 points adrift of league leaders Chelsea and just two ahead of Palace. Rodgers conceded afterwards that heads have dropped in his squad following a poor spell of form.

"It was bitterly disappointing," said the Liverpool manager. "You've seen a team low on confidence today, not quite together as a team. We need to find a solution very quickly because it was very disappointing.

"I put the team out there, the best team to win us the game. We made a good start. You could see our passing was a wee bit tentative and then we make mistakes. Mistakes you wouldn't expect to see at a team that's supposed to be challenging.

"Overall, that intensity and togetherness in our game isn't there. When you don't get the results, that affects you. That leads to [damaged] confidence. We have to work harder but we go away bitterly disappointed with the result. At this moment, we're just not good enough."

Their draw in London last season was ultimately damaging to Liverpool's title tilt as Palace struck three times in 11 minutes to snatch an unlikely result. Luis Suarez was left in tears on the pitch following that game and since his departure to Barcelona in the summer, the Anfield side have been unable to sustain the type of form which turned them into title challengers.

Rodgers invested the money received for Suarez into his squad and now wants to see more from his players. He also knows that results must improve if he is to avoid facing questions about his future.

"I'm not arrogant enough to think that I will be in a job through anything," he added. "Any manager will tell you that you have to win games and you have to get results, especially after how we've been developing as a football club. I will only ever do my best. The best has seen us develop well. Now I need to fight even harder."