Chris Hughton admitted Liverpool ruthlessly punished his side's defensive failings in today's 5-2 Premier League hammering at Carrow Road.

Luis Suarez grabbed his second consecutive hat-trick against the Canaries with Nuri Sahin and Steven Gerrard's late deflected strike completing the rout - Steve Morison and Grant Holt's second half goals giving the scoreline a gloss that flattered the hosts. Hughton had been acutely aware of Liverpool's attacking threat, but insisted City contributed to their own downfall.

'What you can't afford to do is gift them chances and we knew beforehand that we were coming up against a Liverpool team in good form,' said Hughton. 'They moved the ball well and you cannot give them the opportunities we did. They were clinical today, I have to say, and (Luis) Suarez was at his most clinical but you cannot give them that time and space to score. That is the disappointment. We have conceded pivotal goals that really hurt us. The first one, so early in the game, and the second and third either side of half-time. The only positive is we managed to score two goals when it became really open. That is the only positive.

'We'll make no excuses for today or the points we have got but we are at period when we are not able to convert our chances. Suarez had four chances and took three. (Steven) Gerrard's fifth goal takes a deflection and goes in.'

Brendan Rodgers savoured his first Premier League win as boss of the Reds.

'I'm obviously content but not surprised,' he said. 'Our performance level up until today has been very good, apart from at home to Arsenal and when we went down to ten men against West Brom. Our quality and the standard of our play was outstanding today.'