Source: Telegraph
I chose Joe Cole to take Liverpool penalty in Europa League clash, says Roy Hodgson
Cole admitted he had not taken a penalty since he was 13, after failing to convert his attempt following Lucas Leiva's trip in the area by Serkan Balci. [LNB]"I scored that one," said the England international. "It was always pre-determined that I would take it if we got one, but it was a bad penalty.[LNB] Related ArticlesLiverpool 1 Trabzonspor 0Liverpool v Trabzonspor: as it happenedCole deification pure fantasyMascherano can only go for £25mHuang shows impatienceLiverpool must win their battle to oust Tom Hicks and George Gillett"It is just one of those things, but I hold my hands up for that." [LNB]Hodgson had appointed Cole in the absence of regular penalty taker Steven Gerrard, as well as that of his deputy Dirk Kuyt, but the Liverpool manager acknowledged that the former Chelsea player's failure to add to the lead given to the hosts by Ryan Babel in first-half injury time meant his side faced an arduous Europa League trip to Turkey for the return leg next week.[LNB]"I think we probably deserved more but we can only blame ourselves," he said. "We missed a penalty and if you do that you cannot blame anyone else.[LNB]"I told the players we needed more intensity at the break because we were lucky to be leading 1-0 at half-time. The first half was not as good as it should have been. With the second-half performance we deserved a second goal, which would have made the journey to Turkey more comfortable. Now it will not be comfortable at all.[LNB]"Whether the margin will be enough we will only know next Thursday, but it is good at least to be going with a lead and not having conceded a goal." [LNB]As well as Gerrard and Kuyt, Hodgson put out a side shorn of a number of regular starters - including Glen Johnson, Martin Skrtel and the injured Daniel Agger and Javier Mascherano - and the 62 year-old, who also saw a goal from Christian Poulsen controversially disallowed, said he had deliberately rested players with Monday's daunting Premier League trip to Manchester City in mind.[LNB]"They all played last Wednesday in international games," he said. "Then they played against Arsenal, then a tough game here and we have another on Monday, so it was important to rest players and to rotate the team. Fortunately the ones I chose did not let the club down."[LNB]
