Roy Hodgson admitted there were plenty of positives to take from the performance of his Liverpool players, despite a 1-0 defeat to Borussia Moenchengladbach in Germany.

The Reds slipped to a narrow loss at Borussia Park after Karim Matmour made the most of some poor defending to give the Bundesliga side victory as they celebrated their 110^th anniversary.

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However, Hodgson was able to field summer signing Joe Cole as well as England colleagues Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson for the first time under his stewardship and insisted there was much to be encouraged by.

The boss told Liverpoolfc.tv: "We gave it to them again. It's disappointing. If it had stayed 0-0 I would have been delighted with the performance. I am still quite pleased and I think we got everything we asked from the players.

"We had three or four World Cup players playing their first 45 or 60 minutes and, of course, at the end of the game we had players who are only 15 and 16 on the field. I thought they stood up to the challenge very well.

"As in Kaiserslautern, we came close to a really good result. It was an even game but, as I said, unfortunately after 10 minutes with no pressure on us at all, we gave away that very bad goal."

Daniel Ayala was guilty of conceding possession cheaply inside his own area for the Moenchengladbach goal after eight minutes - but Hodgson had words of comfort for the young centre-back.

He said: "Ayala was our best player after the mistake and I think that shows what kind of character he is.

"To make a mistake like that after eight minutes, most players would crumble but not only did he get himself going again, I thought he was a pillar in our defence and I take my hat off to him.

"Mistakes are mistakes - they happen and you learn from it. I am pleased with him."

The clash in Germany represented Liverpool's final pre-season friendly of the summer - and Hodgson admits it has been difficult to prepare for the new campaign due to the extended breaks many of his senior stars were afford following the World Cup.

"I am seeing improvements in some individual players but we haven't really had the chance to work together as a team as yet," he said. "I don't even think we're going to be together as a team as I would like us to be on August 15 as we are still reintegrating players.

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"Joe and Steven played their first 60 minutes today, Jamie Carragher played 45 and Johnson 55 - we're just reintegrating players all the time. It's going to take a bit of time.

"But today was an exercise and certainly not negative in anyway other than the fact our young players must realise at this very, very high level you are judged on mistakes and if you make glaring ones, you're going to be judged very harshly."

Despite fielding Gerrard, Cole, Carragher and Johnson, Hodgson is unsure whether they will be considered for Thursday's Europa League third qualifying round tie with FK Rabotnicki at Anfield.

He admitted: "I haven't decided yet. We've left a lot a players back at home - Kelly, Agger, Soto and Skrtel - so there's a whole back four and the chances are that's the back four that will play. We will see if they will get any minutes and I will speak to them.

"There's also the question of what is going to be best to get them fit for the game on August 15. We will have to sit down and talk about it."

Meanwhile, Hodgson explained why he opted to give youngsters Raheem Sterling and Jesus 'Suso' Fernandez some playing time towards the end of the clash.

"We were short of players but as it happened, Aurelio signed at the last minute and Insua decided that he is still undecided about his future and was therefore able to be selected," he said.

"Suddenly we had 20 players instead of 18. I was concerned in the beginning we wouldn't have 18 players so Raheem Sterling and Suso were called up and having done so I wanted to give them a few minutes on the pitch."

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