Source: Team_Talk
Reds left with work to do - Hodgson
Roy Hodgson admits Liverpool now face a testing trip to Turkey next week after a gaining a slender 1-0 advantage over Trabzonspor on Thursday.[LNB] Ryan Babel scored the only goal as the Reds beat the Turkish Cup winners 1-0 in the first leg of their Europa League play-off at Anfield.[LNB]Victory would have been much more comfortable had Joe Cole converted a second-half penalty and debutant Christian Poulsen not had a goal disallowed.[LNB]"I think with our second-half performance we can probably count ourselves unlucky," said Hodgson, who made seven changes and gave captain Steven Gerrard a night off.[LNB]"We probably did deserve the extra goal which would have made the trip to Turkey more comfortable. Now it won't be comfortable at all.[LNB]"If you miss a penalty you can't blame anybody but yourselves but I thought we were unlucky with the disallowed goal.[LNB]"Overall I am very pleased with the result and performance, especially second half, but whether it will be good enough to take to Trabzonspor, only time will tell."[LNB]Cole's miss continued a miserable week for the former Chelsea midfielder, who was sent off against Arsenal on Sunday and found guilty of speeding yesterday.[LNB]He now begins a three-match domestic suspension starting with Monday's Premier League trip to Manchester City.[LNB]Yet Cole did set up Babel's goal and was involved in the build-up to the close-range Poulsen strike which was disallowed.[LNB]It was unclear at the time whether it had been ruled out for a foul on goalkeeper Onur Kivrak by Cole or for offside, but Hodgson felt it was the former.[LNB]"TV replays showed there was no real contact between Joe Cole and the goalkeeper," he said.[LNB]"That's one of the things that happens these days. He was clever enough I think to cover up his error by pretending to be fouled and the referee unfortunately wasn't in a position to see through the masquerade."[LNB]Babel's goal came at the end of a drab first half in which both sides struggled to create meaningful opportunities.[LNB]The second period was played at a much higher tempo with Fernando Torres introduced off the bench in place of Babel.[LNB]Hodgson added: "I don't think our first-half performance was as good as it needed to be.[LNB]"I don't think we had caused enough problems for their defence to deserve to go in front 1-0.[LNB]"We played with much more intensity in the second half. If there had been a half where we deserved a goal it would have been the second.[LNB]"Overall it was still a good performance to rest seven players and send players out there who don't play so often for the first team, it was very good."[LNB]Trabzonspor coach Senol Gunes felt his side made life difficult for the hosts but was disappointed not to have conceded a goal ahead of the second leg.[LNB]Gunes, who guided Turkey to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup, said: "It was raining and it was difficult but we controlled the game and were really positive in the first half.[LNB]"But in the first 10 minutes of the second half we lost control and Liverpool put us under too much pressure.[LNB]"They won 1-0 and have control of the tie.[LNB]"I am not happy because our aim was to score here. Umut Bulut had two chances to score but could not take either of them.[LNB]"Losing 1-0 was not a good result for us."
