Adam Lallana believes Liverpool can have little complaint over taking only a point from Saturday's clash with Sunderland after conceding two late goals, insisting: 'we've only got ourselves to blame'.

The Reds looked on track for victory against the Mackems entering the final ten minutes at Anfield, with goals from Roberto Firmino and Lallana having put them two ahead in the second half.

However, Adam Johnson's curling free-kick in the 82nd minute and Jermain Defoe's turn and shot in the 89th allowed Sam Allardyce's men to pinch a draw despite having been on the back foot for much of the contest.

Lallana pulled no punches in his assessment of that fightback, admitting he and his teammates must do better in seeing games out in future.

"It's disappointing in any game, regardless of who you're playing, to be 2-0 up with ten minutes to go [and concede two]," he told Liverpoolfc.com.

"We've only got ourselves to blame. We probably dropped a bit too deep as a team and didn't continue doing what we were doing in the second half to get the goals.

"We certainly didn't want to be complacent or didn't think we'd won the game. But these things happen and we need to take full responsibility for that."

The hosts' disappointment was no doubt compounded by the fact that they had produced a second-half performance worthy of claiming the win.

Lallana says that was down to he and his teammates showing extra coolness in the box, an improvement that was much-discussed in the dressing room at the break.

"Even in the first half we got into good areas but maybe our killer instinct inside the box, our final pass, was lacking," he added.

"So that's what we said at half-time - make the right decision - and the second half was a lot better.

"At 2-0 the lads were confident, so it's very disappointing to condede two late goals."

Liverpool were without Jürgen Klopp for the meeting with the Black Cats, with the German recovering after having his appendix removed on Saturday.

But Lallana does not believe the manager's absence played a part in the concession of two late goals, and underlined the importance of producing a response against West Ham United in the FA Cup on Tuesday.

"Everything was the same, the manager was present last night but obviously he had to be rushed off to be seen to," he explained.

"Hopefully he's well and recovering but it's a shame we couldn't get the result for him today.

"It's [now] as simple as working as hard as we've been working, even harder.

"We've got another game on Tuesday, which is the best thing as a player, to get back on the pitch as soon as possible and put things right.

"Our league form has not been great so we need to make sure that Tuesday we stay in [the FA Cup]."