Liverpool's youngsters have been told it will be "a crime" if they don't learn from the example set by Chelsea's senior professionals during another chastening defeat.
Neil Critchley's under-23s succumbed to a 3-0 reverse at Stamford Bridge on Monday night in their latest Premier League 2 fixture.
Belgium international Michy Batshuayi scored twice for a Chelsea side that also included Germany national team centre-back Antonio Rudiger.
The Reds fielded a strong starting line-up which featured summer signings Harvey Elliott and Sepp van den Berg along with Rhian Brewster, Ki-Jana Hoever, Adam Lewis, Curtis Jones, Yasser Larouci and goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, making his first appearance since returning from injury.
And Critchley was understandably downbeat at a second successive loss after the 4-0 thumping at home to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend.
"That was a tough night, to be honest," he said. "There were a million moments where we could have done a lot better in and loads of situations in and out of possession where we failed.
"We stuck at it and showed a bit of character towards the end, but the game was gone at that stage. The manner in which we got beat and our performance was disappointing really.
"I thought Rudiger and Batshuayi played the game properly and they were a credit to themselves, real professionals.
"They showed a proper good attitude and were a great example to not only their players, but ours as well. That was a tough night for our defenders playing against Batshuayi and our forwards against Rudiger.
"The biggest crime from the game is if we don’t take anything from this. If we don’t learn from it, we don’t improve and don’t look to improve then that’s worse than the defeat."
Batshuayi beat Van den Berg to meet Rudiger's pass to score the opener before the break and netted a second shortly after the restart. Faustino Anjori scored Chelsea's third with 16 minutes remaining.
"We looked a bit disjointed and we looked a new team playing for the first time on the pitch," added Critchley, speaking to liverpoolfc.com.
"We made quite a few changes from our last game and it does take time to build those relationships. But again, the boys have to show that right mentality every day in training and that willingness to learn.
"We have to dust ourselves down, learn from it, move on and see if we can do better in the next game."
Liverpool U23s, who are pointless alongside Manchester City at the foot of the early Premier League 2 table, are next in action at Southampton on Monday.
