Source: FOOTYMAD
Hodgson on Stoke defeat and Torres injury
Roy Hodgson has spoken about Liverpool's 2-0 defeat at Stoke on Saturday, and the ankle injury suffered by Fernando Torres in the second half. "It's the usual problem you have when you come here, dealing with the long throws, long balls forward into the box, the corner kicks and the strength and height and power of the Stoke team," said the Liverpool boss. "I thought we did very well for 55 minutes but once when conceded the goal, their tails were up and we had to take risks, so much so that we conceded a second goal when I'd pushed a centre-back to play as centre-forward. You have to say it was a triumph for Stoke's way of playing and they got their rewards for it. "Stoke are a very difficult team to beat here. Today they were particularly energetic and aggressive with their pressurising. They pressed us into making errors and didn't give us any time on the ball but that is what you would expect. "You've got to be playing in very good form to get the ball down in those situations and I thought we didn't have the targets up front that we should have, especially after Fernando's injury in the second half. "Fernando didn't want to come off and I didn't want to take him off but he was not firing on all cylinders. We offered him the chance to come off but he wasn't interested in that. I don't think it was too serious, if it had have been I don't think he would have carried on. But it was a nasty knock which he took on his ankle."
