But also, insists defender Joe Worrall, to a manager whose tenure has now been denied an early stamp of domestic progress.
Steven Gerrard said he would shoulder responsibility for the toothless defeat to Aber
Worrall, though, argues that those under his command simply let him down.
"We could have done better," reflected the 21-year-old, on loan from Nottingham Forest, as he assessed the shambolic loss.
"The manager puts the team out to perform at the end of the day and we didn’t do that for him.
"It was a massive opportunity to get to his first cup final and he is not in it, and neither are we.
"Collectively, as a team, and, individually, it’s disappointing. It would have been my first cup final as well, so I am a little bit miffed that we aren’t in this one.
"The manager just said that we need to focus on the positives we’ve had over the last couple of weeks and to make sure we make it right on Wednesday.
"We have that game, which is good because it would have been a week where we would have had to keep our heads down. But now we can look forward to that.
"There are plenty of other games to come and we just have to make it right."