Roy Hodgson 'Disappointed' Liverpool Could Not Find Second Goal Against Trabzonspor

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson admitted he was disappointed after watching his side record a narrow 1-0 victory over Trabzonspor in the first leg of their Europa League qualifier at Anfield.

Ryan Babel secured victory for the Reds in the first half before Joe Cole had a penalty saved and Christian Poulsen a goal ruled out in an eventful second half.

Speaking after the game to ITV Sport, Hodgson revealed he thought his side deserved to win the match and when asked if he thought Liverpool should have won by more goals, he said: “Yes I think we could have done.

“I think particularly in the second half we were good value for our victory and I think if you miss a penalty you only have yourselves to blame.

“It was a fairly fortunate penalty in the sense that it was just a bit of a clumsy challenge but it was a good opportunity to put the game beyond them. But we missed it and then we had a goal disallowed.”

Liverpool now travel to Turkey next Thursday for the second leg and Hodgson rued his side’s inability to secure a bigger lead.

“I’m a bit disappointed not to get the second goal because I think at 2-0 we would have been in a good position ahead of the second leg,” he added.

“One nil is not a bad result, it’s going to be tough for us over there as we saw they were a good team.”