Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers snapped back at former England striker Gary Lineker after their Champions League defeat to Real Madrid.
Ex-England striker and BBC pundit Lineker claimed the starting line-up was "unbefitting of a club of Liverpool's European stature" and that they had thrown in the towel.
But Rodgers insists: "Gary's a figure who I respect and he's been a top player in his day.
"But he has never been a manager, so he does not know what you're up against with planning and training.
"This was far from us throwing in the white towel. Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in every one of his last 12 games, so my players put in a performance that did befit this club. In terms of my team selection, I'm not really bothered (about the criticism). I go with my gut feeling and my gut feeling was that the performance on Saturday (a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle) was not good enough.
"We have seven games in 21 days and because we cannot train so much we have to develop in the games. I did not see this as the big showpiece game where we have to play the big names."
