Hodgson apologizes as Liverpool exit Carling Cup
In one of the biggest cup football shocks in recent history, Liverpool have exited the Carling Cup competition in a disgraceful manner as Northampton, knocked out the mighty Reds at Anfield in the third round of the Carling Cup.
Hodgson approached the match in unspectacular fashion as he clearly underestimated the Northerners, Roy deployed a Liverpool side which was lacking experience and contained youngsters like Thomas Ince and N’gog. It was a massively disappointing exit for
Liverpool, who lost their last league match to Manchester United at Old Trafford.
The cup defeat has not come at the right time for Hodgson, who was already been under pressure by the board and the fans to produce results despite the fact that he had relatively limited funds to spend in the summer transfer window. In the transfer window
of 2010, Liverpool parted ways with Javier Mascherano, whose sale paved the way for the likes of Raul Mereiles to arrive at Anfield.
Against Northampton, Liverpool were apparently outright favourites to win the match and seal their progression to the fourth round of the competition. What makes this failure even more hurtful for Liverpool fans is that it has been suffered at their very
own home ground i.e. Anfield.
Liverpool started the match off strongly and they were the first ones who took the lead by scoring the first goal of the match through their Serbian winger, Milan Jovanovic. It was a fine goal by the winger but after scoring the goal Liverpool took their
foot off the pedal and paid a heavy penalty for it as Northampton played their way back into the match through Billy McKay’s equalizer.
With the scores at one all, the match went to extra time during which Northampton’s players rallied themselves and got the lead through Michael Jacob’s goal. It was a massive moment for the Northampton players as winning at Anfield against Liverpool is something
that second division footballers can only dream about. However, four minutes before the second period of extra time came to an end, N’gog struck for Liverpool, his goal took the match to a penalty shootout.
In the penalty shootout, the Merseysiders couldn’t hold their nerve as striker N’gog and the midfielder Nathan Eccleston missed their penalty kicks to give Abdul Osman, from the Northampton side the opportunity to strike home the critical spot kick. Hodgson
spoke to the press after Liverpool’s exit from the Carling Cup and said that, his team’s performance on the night was below par and nothing equal to what he had expected. The ex-Inter Milan manager said that, Liverpool put in a superb effort in the last fifteen
minutes of extra time after coming back from 2-1 down.
Elaborating on the penalty shootout, Liverpool’s manager said that, when the match goes to penalties and Liverpool are taking their kicks in front of the Kop, one hopes that the players will keep their calm and confidently slot away their penalty kicks.
However, that didn’t happen as Liverpool were abysmal in the shoot-out. Roy apologized to the Liverpool fans as he said that, the fans came to Anfield expecting that Liverpool will win but they had to see their team lose to Northampton. Hodgson specifically
used the terms “I apologize to everyone” to conclude what had been a woeful night for England’s most successful club.
The former Fulham manager also said that he accepts the responsibility for changing a lot of players for this game but he also stressed that the players also have to accept the responsibility for losing this match. Hodgson added that, he believed before
the match that the players he had selected were competitive enough to win the game but obviously it didn’t turn out that way. Roy admitted his mistake by saying that, he shouldn’t have changed so many players for the cup tie against Northampton.
The next few weeks will be crucial for the future for Liverpool F.C, who are set to face the banks as 1st of October approaches. With the already massive debts that the club is buried under, Liverpool’s on-the-field problems have only compounded
what has been a terrible start to the 2010-2011 season.
Tags: