Liverpool Boss Roy Hodgson Apologises After Woeful Carling Cup Exit

Chris Wright

23rd, September 2010

9 Comments

By Chris Wright

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has apologised to the club’s supporters for last night’s dismal Carling Cup exit at the hands of League Two side Northampton Town, accepting that he and his players must take full responsibility for their woeful display at Anfield.

Hodgson gave many of his reserves a run-out, but his selection still included many first-team regulars including Daniel Agger, Lucas, Ryan Babel, David N’Gog and summer signing Milan Jovanovic – the latter opening the scoring in the 9th minute.

Northampton then levelled the tie ten minutes after the interval through Billy McKay‘s instinctive finish and went on to take a deserved extra-time lead when Michael Jacobs fired home following a goal-mouth scramble.

It wasn’t until four minutes from time that N’Gog managed to force penalties by flicking a far-post header past Chris Dunn in the Northampton goal, however the Frenchman wasn’t quite so lucky during the shoot-out as first he, then youngster Nathan Ecclestone missed their kicks allowing Abdul Osman the privilege of securing the Cobblers a spot in the fourth round.

After the game, Hodgson spoke dolefully of his side’s performance;

“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.”

When you walk through a storm…

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9 Comments

  1. gaptooth says:

    this is low

    hopefully it sparks a reaction

  2. Hicks Hater says:

    Roy, you need to do the honorable thing: resign today. You’re trying to pass the buck. Yes, the players need to take responsibility but you are supposed to select them, organise them and motivate them- clearly you failed. If you can’t get 6 full internationals and 3 under 21 internationals to beat an out of form Northampton then clearly something is wrong. You shouldn’t seek to just blame the players- it has become very clear that you are not up to the job. Many of us suspected this when you were appointed. We thought you were a mid-table manager and you confirmed this by saying after the Birmingham game that you didn’t expect to win that match: only a mid-table manager would say that. Then before the United game you joked about how often you lost important matches when at Inter. Not exactly the way to inspire confidence. To those who say ‘give you time’ I say it doesn’t matter how much time you are given- you don’t have a winning mentality. You need to step down and Kenny Dalglish, one of the most successful managers in the club’s history, should be invited to act as interim until the long term future is settled.

  3. Greg says:

    Hodgson said after the Birmingham game that “Torres needs matches”. So why didn’t he play last night, or against Steaua? Realistically, these are the sort of trophies we should be looking to (try to) win, so why not put out a strong(er) team?

  4. Patrick says:

    Is this guy ever mad? This total-gentleman thing that he fronts will kill him eventually, too much thats being bottled in, he should be frothing at the mouth and being qusetioned by the media why he almost lost his voice screaming at an arguably very very strong liverpool side struggling with a team 3 league down……..I foresee depression, high blood pressure and maybe a stroke if Roy keeps going like this

  5. Mr. Angry says:

    what the fuck is all this about? get it together! all that money you get paid and you get beat by northampton! fuck sake! shit!!!!!!!!!!!

  6. Jimbo says:

    it’s not your fault Roy, they were shit before you became manager. Problem is with the players, not managers

  7. tom says:

    if anything this just proves how poor rafa was at building a squad. Give him a year and some time in the transfer market and it’ll all be different, Liverpool need to be patient after the shit storm rafa sailed them directly into.

  8. Mr. Angry says:

    i hate to admit it but JIMBO is right! its not roys fault these players are lazy bastards! wont perform! overpaid overrated pricks! and im a liverpool fan!

  9. Hicks Hater says:

    The team put out contained 6 full internationals and 3 under 21 internationals. If such a team can’t beat a team placed 17th in the 4th tier then you have to think that the manager has failed to organise and motivate his players propoerly. I always felt Benitez over-coached his players, always standing on the touchline and trying to control every little thing. Roy does the opposite- never seems to get involved even when it is going badly. The team needs leadership.

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