Liverpool boss says to judge side over season's results
Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson says that his side should be judged by the results achieved over the entire season after they fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Stoke City on Saturday 13 November.
The Reds had gone into the game on the back of a win over English Premier League champions Chelsea and a draw against Wigan Athletic. They were hoping to continue their charge towards the top four spots of the table, but came unstuck at the Britannia Stadium.
Ricardo Fuller struck the opener for the home side after 56 minutes before Kenwyne Jones netted in the first minute of injury time from a pass by former Anfield star Jermaine Pennant to give Stoke their first win over Liverpool in 27 years.
Liverpool had recovered from their worst start to a league campaign in 57 years to move into the top half of the table, but their loss to Stoke was their fifth EPL loss of the season.
However, Hodgson has urged his club's fans and critics to hold off until the end of the season before assessing the current Liverpool side.
He told Liverpool's official website that: "I don't see why (the loss to Stoke) 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."
He continued: "I'm a 38-to-55-game-a-season man and I make my judgement 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."
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