Boss admits Albion were below par

30 October 2011 17:47
But Hodgson says soft penalty didn't help

Albion boss Roy Hodgson had no complaints after his side were easily beaten 2-0 by his former side Liverpool – but the Baggies boss was unhappy at the manner his side went behind.

Jerome Thomas was adjudged to have felled Luis Suarez in the penalty area after eight minutes with referee Lee Mason awarding a penalty on the advice of his assistant Gary Beswick.

Charlie Adam made no mistake from the resulting spot kick with Andy Carroll scoring a second on the stroke of half time.

The hosts attempts to find a foothold back in to the game were halted by a stern rearguard action by a well drilled Liverpool defence.

“We weren't in particularly good form today," said Hodgson.

"We can do a lot better.

"But one of the major things that went wrong was having a very harsh penalty awarded against us so early in the game.

"I think the 25,000 or so supporters inside the stadium, including the Liverpool fans, will probably agree it was a very hash penalty.

"Our chances of winning the game were seriously disturbed by that decision.

"I thought the referee saw it and, like the rest of us, didn't see anything - but the linesman did and the referee decided to take the linesman's advice.

"The situation was that our defender was entitled to screen the ball to try and clear it - and he should have been allowed to do so.

"But a penalty was awarded and, of course, that meant that a difficult task became that much more difficult.

"We didn't play as well today as we have been doing but it would have been nice to play with the scores 0-0 for a longer period of time."

Do you think Albion were harshly treated in the award of Liverpool's penalty? Have your say here at Baggies Banter.

Source: FOOTYMAD