Roy Hodgson apologies to Liverpool fans on Sky Sports after their exit on penalties from the Carling Cup to Northampton Town. The game ended 2-2, but Liverpool lost 2-4 on penatlies.
Hodgson said in an interview with Sky Sports:
“I don’t think we came anywhere near what I hoped to see apart from in the last 15 minutes of extra-time when we made a superb effort after going 2-1 down,”
“When it goes to penalties and you are at home and in front of the Kop your hope is that at least the players will have the composure and confidence to win the penalty shoot-out but we didn’t.
“All I can do is congratulate Northampton and apologise to everyone; the fans came expecting to see us win and I expected us to win but it wasn’t to be.
“These players have to accept responsibility. I accept responsibility for changing a lot of players in the team, I did it because I honestly thought the players I put on the field were good enough to win the game and they weren’t.
“The obvious conclusion to that was I shouldn’t have changed that many players but we should have been strong enough to get a result.
“We must all take our responsibility. I am just bitterly disappointed that the team I had so much faith in did not repay that faith this evening with the exception of one or two performances.”
Liverpool battled hard at Manchester United and came back from a 2 goal deficit to draw level, only to be beaten by a late goal from Berbatov.
Roy Hodgson said: “I thought our second half performance was good and we deserved to get back in the game,”
“I think we were a bit unlucky to go two down when we did – and of course to concede late on was tough.
“We’re disappointed but otherwise I thought we made a really good effort in the second half to get back in the game.
“Had we had a little bit more composure at the end maybe we’d have seen the game out.
“In the first half I don’t think the front players received that many balls they could deal with, more because of good defending than anything else. But then the game opened up and there was more excitement for the fans in the second half.”
Fernando Torres won both the penalty and free-kick which Gerrard scored from, and Hodgson added: “Fernando is still a player who needs more games, time and training – but we’ll get a lot of tremendous use out of him for the rest of the season.”
Watch the video highlights of Liverpool Vs Manchester United below.
1st Half highlights:
Extended match highlights:
Manchester United 1 – Liverpool 0:
Manchester United 2 – Liverpool 0:
Manchester United 2 – Liverpool 1: Gerrard Goal:
Manchester United 2 – Liverpool 2: Gerrard free kick:
There wasn’t much to cheer about as Liverpool managed a 0-0 draw with Birmingham City in the Premier League on Sunday. Despite having the bulk of the posession, Liverpool failed to turn it into any real chances.
Fernando Torres still clearly lacks match fitness, but there were at least signs that he seemed to be getting stronger as the game progressed.
Liverpool were lacklustre at best, and Pepe Reina should take the credit for ensuring that Birmingham City didn’t take the full 3 points from the game.
Watch the video highlights of Liverpool Vs Birmingham City below: First Half Highlights: