EPL News: Roy Hodgson considers Stoke City loss as a blip
Liverpool who lost their last league match in the Premier League to Stoke City by two goals to one are on another bad run of form but their manager is adamant that the loss at the Britannia stadium was just a blip for the Reds. Liverpool
also drew in mid-week against Wigan Athletic as they failed to build on their good result against Chelsea at Anfield on the past weekend.
Liverpool’s manager maintained a stance of positivity after his team ended up as second best to Tony Pulis’s men. Roy Hodgson said, "I don't see why it should give us enormous reason to doubt what we are doing or doubt what we are capable
of doing. I don't expect this result to dent confidence any more than any bad result does or any end to a good run dents your confidence. We are talking about two or three games in a season. I find it hard to have to explain that every time you win a game
things are flying forward and when you get a bad result they are flying backwards.”
Hodgson emphasized the importance of a 38 game season when he said, "I'm a 38-to-55-game-a-season man and I make my judgment over that period. I don't get euphoric when we play well against Chelsea and I certainly won't become anything
other than realistic and determined to move on to the next step when we lose a game. The conclusions that are being attempted to be drawn are too big conclusions. We're realistic. We know we've still got some work to do, get some players back to fitness and
work at our game. All you can do is work but unfortunately we won't have a lot of chance to work as some players are going away with their national team.”
Liverpool brought in a lot of new players in the summer transfer window of 2010, players which have taken time to gel in together as a team. Hodgson, Liverpool’s manager spoke about the team chemistry at Anfield as he said, "The longer
we work together the more the players become attuned to what we want from them. I don't think I need to fear one setback in six is going to throw us back into a bad situation."
Roy also spoke about the match itself which saw Lucas Leiva sent off for the Reds, he said, "I was disappointed with the lack of creativity for large periods but to do that we needed a bit more from our front players. Most of the time
the creativity comes on those occasions you get the ball down and play some football but for a lot of time it was in the air or being kicked out and then you have to deal with the re-start which ensues. We have had some good performances; it is the first game
we have lost in six so I think that is pretty consistent."
On the other hand, Stoke City’s boss Tony Pulis was delighted with his team’s win against the former English champions as he said, "I think we have created more opportunities and chances this year in every game we have played. We've scored
five goals in two home games and long may that continue. Fuller and Jones were a handful. The great thing about yesterday was were pretty expansive and created lot of chances but we kept a clean sheet. You get highs and lows. Everyone gets carried away with
poor results and good results but as manager of this club you have to stay as level-headed as you can.”
Liverpool next face West Ham United on 20th of November, whereas Stoke City face West Bromwich Albion in their next English Premier League encounter.
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