Gareth Southgate is urging Middlesbrough to take heart from their performance at Anfield - rather than dwelling on their mistakes.Boro took a 1-0 lead on Saturday and had Jeremie Aliadiere sent off for retaliating in an incident with Javier Mascherano before going on to lose the game 3-2 following a hat-trick by Fernando Torres.

Southgate believes, however, that he saw plenty of encouragement for the future in that Premier League fixture - as long as the Teesside club can eradicate unforced errors.

The manager told his club's official website: "We made mistakes all across the field. A couple have been punished with goals - and another has been punished with a sending-off.

"But others have made mistakes and got away with it - and we win or lose as a team.

"Of course, the players who have made the mistakes will feel worse. But I don't operate a blame culture at my club; we encourage people to play and try things - and sometimes mistakes are going to happen.

"When you come to a place like Liverpool and you lose, you hope it is their quality that has won them the game - and in the end it was our mistakes.

"But the important thing is we stick together as a team right through the season."

The former England defender also bemoaned the timing of Aliadiere's red card - which came just as Boro had forced their way back into the game at 3-2.

However, he refused to criticise the former Arsenal forward.

"I only want to talk about my player, and if you raise your hands away from home with a young referee there is not much alternative that he is going to go," he said.

"The most annoying thing is we had a bit of momentum; we'd just scored the second goal and were back in it.

"At 3-2, they were having a bit of a wobbler and we might have gone on to snatch an equaliser.

"But I'm not going to 'crucify' Jeremie. He's been fantastic all season, and it's a lesson he has got to learn from.

"The harshest thing for him is he is going to miss three games - and with the strikers we've got now, he is going to have to sit out and work his way back into the side."

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