Anelka believes the Blues does not have the ability to win big matches under boss Phil Scolari.
He said: “We just didn’t know how to play against Liverpool.
“From the start of the season we’ve lost our tests against the biggest teams. Every time it seems our opponents are at least as strong if not stronger than us.
“Whenever the biggest matches in the Premier League come along we have just not shown we know how to perform at the ‘real’ Chelsea level.
“Liverpool were superior. They laid on a really good performance and pressed us out of the game.
“If Frank Lampard hadn’t been sent off we might have managed a draw but the fact is we weren’t in shape to do better than that. We couldn’t have won. That’s a very hard thing to have to admit.”
Anelka added: “Although I don’t believe we are dead in the water for the title race it’s going to be really, really hard to win.
“We need to raise our standard of play, step up a gear, get stuck in more in the big matches and we need to improve our technical displays.”
