Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has apologised to fans in the wake of Wednesday night's shock Carling Cup exit. The Reds fought back to equalise 2-2 with League Two outfit Northampton Town in the dying minutes of extra-time before going down in a penalty shootout as Hodgson could only tell the fans he was sorry for the blunder.
"I don't think we came anywhere near what I hoped to see apart from in the last 15 minutes of extra-time when we made a superb effort after going 2-1 down," he said.
"When it goes to penalties and you are at home and in front of the Kop your hope is that at least the players will have the composure and confidence to win the penalty shoot-out but we didn't.
"All I can do is congratulate Northampton and apologise to everyone; the fans came expecting to see us win and I expected us to win but it wasn't to be.
"These players have to accept responsibility. I accept responsibility for changing a lot of players in the team, I did it because I honestly thought the players I put on the field were good enough to win the game and they weren't.
"The obvious conclusion to that was I shouldn't have changed that many players but we should have been strong enough to get a result.
"We must all take our responsibility. I am just bitterly disappointed that the team I had so much faith in did not repay that faith this evening with the exception of one or two performances."
