Joe Cole signs

[The Birdman]

The reaction to Cole signing is a little OTT in my opinion. He's a half decent player, definitely not world class, he's not a patch on Kewell (whilst playing for Leeds).

He's a tidy little player and selling Benny for £5m and bringing in Cole is good business in financial terms, but its like for like and not a significant improvement in quality. I think he's going to disappoint a lot of fans this season, be that through injuries or performances. We need to aim higher if we want to cement a top 4 position.

Seriously???
I'm not one for going over the top on anything but Joe Cole is a fantastic signing on so many different levels it's untrue. In no particular order
1. He's English
2. He was a free transfer.
3. Experienced International.
4. Has experience of winning trophies.
5. The best technical British player since Hoddle
6. He was an important player for Chelsea and scored goals in big games, he now plays for us.
7. Flexible enough to play in 3 or 4 positions and allows us to field 2 or 3 different formations.
8. He has a point to prove.
9. He is liked and respected by Gerrard and Carragher and I expect Torres.
10. He has chosen us over sides playing in the CL and on paper who are more stable and could offer a quicker route to honours (potentially)
11. He is the sybolic signing players like Gerrard, Torres, Kuyt, Mascherano or anyone else maybe considering their future wanted to see.
12. Most importantly the signing of Joe Cole has given the fans hope, hope that there is light at the end of the storm and that we can believe in our club again (playing wise obviously, not off field just yet)


Taxi, just out of interest who do you mean by 'aim higher'? what players do you think we should be bringing in?

[SK]

Sorry V but today mate the glass is half full and no-one can make me change my mind.


We got our No 1 target

[Exiled_red]

When we are being linked with the likes of James Beattie, Joe Cole definitely seems like a world class signing.

I know what you two are saying, but I'm personally made up that we've signed him. I remember being desperate to sign him when he was at West Ham (and we were linked with him a fair bit at the time IIRC).

It's also a positive sign that he picked us over teams in the CL. Okay that may have been down to us being willing to pay the wages to an extent, but it shows we still have the pull despite our current problems.

I'm actually feeling positive for the first time in ages, putting aside Torres and Gerrard because everyone knows how good they are, we're actually got a bloody good bunch of options - Maxi, Jovanovic, Cole, Kuyt, Aquilani. Roll on the start of the season.

It's good to have this quality of players but I am concerned about the number of experienced players in the squad, particularly with so many others being linked with moves away.

[Scratch]

Does this mean we now have a new number one target?

If so, who do we think it might be...or at least, what position.

We know we need a LB, and a striker. Which takes priority?

[Shaggy]

Seriously???
I'm not one for going over the top on anything but Joe Cole is a fantastic signing on so many different levels it's untrue. In no particular order
1. He's English
2. He was a free transfer.
3. Experienced International.
4. Has experience of winning trophies.
5. The best technical British player since Hoddle
6. He was an important player for Chelsea and scored goals in big games, he now plays for us.
7. Flexible enough to play in 3 or 4 positions and allows us to field 2 or 3 different formations.
8. He has a point to prove.
9. He is liked and respected by Gerrard and Carragher and I expect Torres.
10. He has chosen us over sides playing in the CL and on paper who are more stable and could offer a quicker route to honours (potentially)
11. He is the sybolic signing players like Gerrard, Torres, Kuyt, Mascherano or anyone else maybe considering their future wanted to see.
12. Most importantly the signing of Joe Cole has given the fans hope, hope that there is light at the end of the storm and that we can believe in our club again (playing wise obviously, not off field just yet)


Taxi, just out of interest who do you mean by 'aim higher'? what players do you think we should be bringing in?

I think he's referring to Iniesta, Xavi and Messi.

[Pablo]

My Spurs mate about three weeks ago, during civil and respectful discussions about our respective clubs' summer activity:

"Not sure mate. Looks like Harry's priority targets are Joe Cole and Simon Kjaer -two class acts and we hold all the aces with Cole."

Last night:

"Sign of the times when Liverpool fans are blowing their load over a free transfer of a fella who can't get in a rival's team (Chelsea) nor his international side. The rot has well and truly set in!"

Sounds like the same guy!

I just posted about Gerrard staying on Facebook now, I'm waiting for him to come on and say we'd be better off without him now as he's past it.

One season finishing 4th and they've got a God complex FFS, I hope they do **** this year!

[Taxi]

Seriously???
I'm not one for going over the top on anything but Joe Cole is a fantastic signing on so many different levels it's untrue. In no particular order
1. He's English
2. He was a free transfer.
3. Experienced International.
4. Has experience of winning trophies.
5. The best technical British player since Hoddle
6. He was an important player for Chelsea and scored goals in big games, he now plays for us.
7. Flexible enough to play in 3 or 4 positions and allows us to field 2 or 3 different formations.
8. He has a point to prove.
9. He is liked and respected by Gerrard and Carragher and I expect Torres.
10. He has chosen us over sides playing in the CL and on paper who are more stable and could offer a quicker route to honours (potentially)
11. He is the sybolic signing players like Gerrard, Torres, Kuyt, Mascherano or anyone else maybe considering their future wanted to see.
12. Most importantly the signing of Joe Cole has given the fans hope, hope that there is light at the end of the storm and that we can believe in our club again (playing wise obviously, not off field just yet)


Taxi, just out of interest who do you mean by 'aim higher'? what players do you think we should be bringing in?

There are a number of players at a better or more promising level than Cole, but not at the level of the likes of Messi Shaggy.

Players like Robben, Lahm, Augero, Gourcuff are all younger and would strengthen our squad more than Cole. Whilst players like Forlan are older but better, but, and this is the big problem, they'd all cost too much for us. Until we can afford this type of player we won't cement a top 4 position. Until then Cole is a good deal, but he is not the answer and won't add much more to our game over Benny.

Financially the Cole deal is superb, nobody can argue with that and I agree with the bold bits above, I just gaurantee you that we will all be a little disappointed with his performance come the end of the season. Jose, Ancelloti and Capello didn't play him much, surely that says something?

[Sprouty]

[Reece]

[barnes10]

number 10? thought he was 7?

[Sprouty]

number 10? thought he was 7?

Probably don't have any number 7 training tops out there.

[Reece]

number 10? thought he was 7?

Well spotted. Was that actually official though, or was it people making assumptions?

[red g]

Joe Cole hasn’t been labelled a football mercenary for two reasons – he’s English, and he seems like a nice bloke.

Because of those perceived virtues, lots of people are currently looking for reasons – other than the usual reasons – why a player would slide six places down the football ladder at the peak of his career.

Roy Hodgson admitted today that Cole could have joined Spurs or Arsenal, clubs that have better squads, offer Champions League football and provide a better chance of winning trophies.

Neither of those clubs, though, were willing to offer a contract worth £90,000 a week over four years – almost £20 million in total, plus whatever signing on fee he was able to negotiate (£6 million was reported although that figure has been denied by Liverpool).

Fair play to him, you might think. But for Hodgson’s new Liverpool, this has been billed as something more than just another Bosman looking for his last big contract.

“It is a message that Liverpool mean business,” said Jamie Carragher this morning, a boast that ranges somewhere between bullish and ridiculous considering the club’s debt/stadium/Hicks/Gillett/Purslow/Champions League/Torres situation.

Carragher pushed credibility further still when claiming: “We have signed a top international player who has been really important for Chelsea.” Simply not true.

As my colleague Duncan White pointed out during the World Cup, Cole has been not picked by some seriously impressive managers over the last few seasons. Neither Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti nor Fabio Capello felt they could trust him. And Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, Saloman Kalou, Florent Malouda and Frank Lampard are all more important attacking players for Ancelotti. Cole was an option.

Of course, if a likeable and talented player brings a feelgood factor to Liverpool this season then he will be a welcome addition. The creative burden at Liverpool desperately needs to be spread around, and a fresh start could be great for a player who needs to shed the impression that he is a promising 28-year-old.

But a signal of Liverpool’s intent? Not so sure

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mikenorrish/100010897/90000-reasons-why-joe-cole-joined-liverpool/

i am pretty sure spurs would have been ofering big money as well. gutter press do my head in.

[Leyton388]

Spurs can kiss my arse! first ever time they get in the top 4 and they think their massive! They are a joke and we will see where they are next season. their fans are the london version of EFC fans.

[Mostar]

I think people are getting too happy just because its the first bit of good news in a long while.

It's also a positive sign that he picked us over teams in the CL. Okay that may have been down to us being willing to pay the wages to an extent, but it shows we still have the pull despite our current problems.

I'm actually feeling positive for the first time in ages, putting aside Torres and Gerrard because everyone knows how good they are, we're actually got a bloody good bunch of options - Maxi, Jovanovic, Cole, Kuyt, Aquilani. Roll on the start of the season.