Steven Gerrard admitted Liverpool were lucky to come away from Loftus Road with all three points after an injury-time own goal from QPR centre-back Steven Caulker gave the Reds a 3-2 victory.
Eduardo Vargas’ two late goals had the hosts edging towards a deserved and creditable draw, only for Caulker to put through his own net in the fourth minute of added time.
Richard Dunne’s own goal put Rangers behind midway through the second half. Vargas equalised with normal time running out, notching his first goal in English football, only for Philippe Coutinho‘s deflected effort to restore the Reds’ lead.
Vargas put QPR back on level terms moments later, but Liverpool sneaked the final word and the points, with Caulker the luckless fall guy. Gerrard was not impressed by Liverpool’s performance and felt his side would have had no complaints had they left west London pointless.
“We’re still in shock to be honest. We’re very lucky today,” he told Sky Sports 1.
“We would have had no complaints if we came away with nothing, we would have no complaints if we came away with a point. I think we’re very lucky to come away with three points.
“Our performance needs to be better. I think the only credit we can give ourselves is that we never give up and keep going to the end.
“We got rewarded in the end for hanging in and staying in the game but all around it needs improving.”
Raheem Sterling, who started for Liverpool against his old club after the controversy over his England omission last Sunday, admitted he was pleased to be back playing football. The winger has been an almost permanent fixture on the back pages following England manager Roy Hodgson’s revelation that the player had complained of tiredness prior to the Euro 2016 qualifier away to Estonia.
He said: “It’s always good to play football and it’s no different this week. The manager put me out there and I’m just happy that we got the three points.”
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers echoed his captain’s belief that QPR, who remain bottom of the Barclays Premier League with just four points from eight league fixtures, deserved at least a point.
“They certainly didn’t deserve to lose,” he said. “I thought we were very, very lucky to get the win.
“We showed tremendous character and were a little bit better in the second half but QPR definitely deserved something from the game.”
QPR manager Harry Redknapp declared himself angry at the result but took plenty of heart from his side’s performance.
“We didn’t deserve that, we were fantastic today, absolutely excellent,” the former Tottenham boss said.
“You hope you can replicate that (in future games) and get the points that the performance deserves but I can’t help but be angry.
“I’m delighted with the performance, I’m proud of the players, they were just fantastic, but they didn’t deserve to come away with nothing.
“It was totally unfair but that’s football and sometimes that’s life but I’m proud of every one of those boys today, they all gave everything.
“Seven or eight of them started last year in the Championship for us and they’ve showed today that they can play against one of the best teams in Europe in my opinion, and outplay them really, so there’s got to be lots of positives as well.”
PA
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