LONDON– Roy Hodgson tore into his Liverpool flops after their woeful start to the season continued with a humiliating 2-1 defeat at home to Blackpool on Sunday.
Star striker Fernando Torres hobbling off with groin injury with less than 10 minutes played set the tone for a miserable afternoon for Liverpool manager Hodgson.
The fallen European giants trailed 2-0 at half time courtesy of a Charlie Adam penalty and Luke Varney's neat finish.
Sotirios Kyrgiakos' second-half header proved no more than a consolation goal.
The defeat piles the pressure on Hodgson, whose side have already been knocked out of the League Cup by lowly Northampton and find themselves in the relegation zone for the first time since 1964.
Shocked Hodgson said: "We were not anywhere near where we should be in the first half and there was not enough intensity in our play.
"Both of their goals came from counter attacks. We did not use the ball well enough and that was the biggest crime we committed.
"We had plenty of opportunities in the second half to equalise but credit to Blackpool for holding on for the victory.
"We have made a very bad start to the season. It is a start we could never envisage and one that we are really unhappy about.
"We have got to live with it and we have got to do something about. There is no point making excuses because for a club of our stature six points from seven games is not acceptable."
Blackpool had already suffered heavy defeats at Arsenal and Chelsea this season but were given a major boost when Torres limped out of proceedings.
Adam signalled the visitors' intent by testing Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina with a 20-yard free kick in the opening minutes.
DJ Campell also placed a half volley inches wide while at the other end Kyrgiakos had a header hooked off the line by Neil Eardley.
The home fans were stunned into silence on 29 minutes when Varney was tripped by Glen Johnson and Adam stepped up to smash home from the spot.
Blackpool were in dreamland on the stroke of half time when boyhood Liverpool supporter Gary Taylor-Fletcher fed Varney and the ex-Derby and Sheffield Wednesday forward showed clever close control before beating Reina from 12 yards.
Liverpool played with much more purpose after the interval, with Kyrgiakos reducing the arrears just eight minutes after the re-start thanks to a thumping header from Steven Gerrard's free kick.
Joe Cole came within inches of snatching a point when he shot narrowly wide while it took a fine stoppage time save from Pool goalkeeper Matt Gilks to keep out another Kyrgiakos header as Ian Holloway's side held on to claim a famous victory.
Boss Holloway picked out Torres' injury as the turning point.
Holloway said: "To see Torres limp off is sad for Liverpool because they probably need him too much. He is one of the best players I have ever seen and when he walked off I thought could this be our day?"
