Give Roy credit for Trabzon win

Well done to Liverpool – and well done Roy Hodgson, writes Tommy Smith.

After the dismay of losing 3-0 at City and the controversy over Javier Mascherano, the last thing anyone really needed was to be heading to eastern Turkey to defend a 1-0 lead with top stars like Gerrard, Torres and Agger all missing.

But Roy Hodgson showed faith in the players he took out there and it has all paid off.

After conceding so early on Thursday it looked like even more doom and gloom was on the cards.

I played in Turkey against Trabzonspor in the 70s and to say the atmosphere out there is hostile is a vast understatement.

On top of that, the pitch was poor and the weather atrocious.

But I thought Liverpool then found and kept their nerve and passed the ball well without panicking.

I don't know what Roy said to them at half time but it worked because they just got better and better.

We started closing them down more quickly and got at their back four with more purpose, while Pepe Reina had very little to do.

In the end a great win was fully deserved and everyone, particularly the manager, deserves full credit for that in such a difficult week.

The new boss will be learning more and more about his players now, as well as about the club itself and the supporters. I thought he ensured everyone stayed cool in Turkey when in an atmosphere like that in can be so easy to lose it.

I know some people feel going out of Europe would not have mattered and agree that getting back into the top four has to be the priority. But not being in the Champions League right now really hurts everyone - so not to have even been involved in the next level of European competition would have been to me unthinkable for a club of Liverpool's stature.

This win has given everyone a big lift after a rough week and I hope we now turn all that energy upon West Brom.

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.