Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has apologised to the club's fans after his side were hammered 6-1 by Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium in their final Premier League game of the season.

Stoke went into the lead in the 22nd minute through Mame Biram Diouf, after Simon Mignolet could only palm away a Charlie Adam shot.




The Potters quickly extended their lead in the 25th minute, Diouf again the goalscorer with a superbly struck shot from the edge of the area.

In the 30th minute it was 3-0 through Jonathan Walters, who took advantage of poor defending from Emre Can to score.
 

 

Adam put Stoke 4-0 ahead and then Steven Nzonzi scored a fifth for the home side on the stroke of half time to leave Liverpool reeling and effectively with no hope of a comeback.

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The Reds did pull one back in the 71st minute through Steven Gerrard, but it was never anything more than a consolation as Peter Crouch then headed in Stoke's sixth.

Rodgers was quick to say sorry to the fans, explaining the performance just wasn't good enough.

He told a press conference: "I've never conceded that many goals in a game, so to start with it's an apology.

"All the supporters connected with Liverpool will be embarrassed and they deserve an apology. We were too easily beaten. OK, they scored a couple of wonder goals, but we have to be much better than that.

"These supporters have been brilliant for us, particularly away from home, so we can have no complaints if the supporters were angry at half time. It was awful, absolutely awful. We finish the season in sixth, which is where we deserve to finish."

And Rodgers says if the owners FSG want him to leave, he will.

"If the owners want me to go, I go, it's as simple as that. But I feel I've still got a lot to offer here. There's a lot that's happened here this year to make the job difficult.

"Last season when everything is working well you have the support of everyone, but performances like this don't help you."

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