Liverpool midfielder Cole proving to be just an ordinary Joe
By Dominic King Last updated at 11:24 PM on 15th December 2010
It was billed as being the game when all eyes would be on Fernando Torres but ended up becoming the night Joe Cole found himself centre of attention.
Once they had secured their passage into the Europa League's round of 32 when drawing 1-1 with Steaua Bucharest two weeks ago, Liverpool's final Group K game against FC Utrecht threatened to be a contest that mattered only to statisticians.
Liverpool, after all, were assured of top spot and their Dutch opponents had accepted they needed a minor miracle to join them in progressing but things changed the moment Roy Hodgson revealed in his prematch press conference that he intended starting Torres.
Out of sorts and out of goals, Hodgson felt that Torres would benefit from a run out on home turf, sensing it would be a confidence boosting exercise for the World Cup winner. What could be better than having some target practice with the pressure off in a dead rubber?
Then, however, Liverpool's medical staff - led by Dr Peter Brukner, the club's head of sports science and sports medicine - intervened.
'I thought it would be a nice game for him and a chance for him to get his confidence back,' Hodgson said shortly before kick-off. 'But I also had a talk to our fitness people and they made me see sense that it wasn't the wisest thing to do.
'We have already qualified and, if he played, he would be taking the place of a young player who needs the chance to stake his place in the team. And of course it would be very bad if he picked up an injury. They made me see sense, I listened to the reason around me and I changed my mind.'
One man he did not change his mind over, however, was Cole. Hodgson revealed in the same pre-match briefing that Cole was 'desperate' to play and it was not difficult to see why. To put it mildly, things have not gone according to plan for the England international since he arrived at Anfield in July.
Hodgson may have been happy when he left Bucharest two weeks ago but Cole was not; substituted after 75 minutes that night, the invective he was seen screaming when leaving the pitch - an incident picked up by television cameras - said everything.
So underwhelming where his efforts then that his only action in the time since were 10 minutes as a substitute against Aston Villa when the game had long since been won.
More telling was the fact Hodgson never called on Cole when Liverpool needed a goal at Newcastle last Saturday. When they fell behind at St James' Park for a second time, Hodgson put his faith in Milan Jovanovic to try and pilfer an equaliser, rather than turning to a man who has been capped 56 times by England and has won the Barclays Premier League three times.
Here, then, was an opportunity for Cole to send out a reminder to Hodgson of what he can do; with the game resembling a training ground exercise - no tackling allowed - you might have expected Cole to revel in the conditions.
If he wanted to try those pirouettes, drag backs or clever balls that occasionally enraged Jose Mourinho when the pair worked together at Chelsea, what was the problem? A substantial crowd had come to be entertained and Cole had the repertoire to entertain them.
But, shuffled out to a spot on the left flank, Cole was underemployed to such an extent that it you occasionally left to wonder whether he had actually taken part in the warm-up and then joined Torres on the bench in another change of heart.
If only that were true. Instead, the 29-year-old spent much of the opening 45 minutes scampering and scurrying from one point to another, like the little boy on the schoolyard who wants to take part in the game but nobody will pass to.
When Jovanovic dar ted towards Utrecht's box on the half hour, trying to engineer an opening, a glance to his left would have ensured he saw Cole in yards of space. Instead, he kept his head down and ran into a wall of yellow and black shirts and the chance was gone.
Not surprisingly, Cole cast a glance to the heavens as if to say 'what more can I do?' and the shake of the head that followed was an indication of how frustrated he felt, frustrations that were shared by the home crowd who regularly exhorted chants of 'Attack! Attack! Attack!'
Would things have been different had Torres been on the pitch? Unlikely. For Torres to have had any chance of scoring he would have needed a regularly supply line. And as Cole knew only too well, Liverpool, quite simply, created nothing.
Clicky
By Dominic King Last updated at 11:24 PM on 15th December 2010
It was billed as being the game when all eyes would be on Fernando Torres but ended up becoming the night Joe Cole found himself centre of attention.
Once they had secured their passage into the Europa League's round of 32 when drawing 1-1 with Steaua Bucharest two weeks ago, Liverpool's final Group K game against FC Utrecht threatened to be a contest that mattered only to statisticians.
Liverpool, after all, were assured of top spot and their Dutch opponents had accepted they needed a minor miracle to join them in progressing but things changed the moment Roy Hodgson revealed in his prematch press conference that he intended starting Torres.
Out of sorts and out of goals, Hodgson felt that Torres would benefit from a run out on home turf, sensing it would be a confidence boosting exercise for the World Cup winner. What could be better than having some target practice with the pressure off in a dead rubber?
Then, however, Liverpool's medical staff - led by Dr Peter Brukner, the club's head of sports science and sports medicine - intervened.
'I thought it would be a nice game for him and a chance for him to get his confidence back,' Hodgson said shortly before kick-off. 'But I also had a talk to our fitness people and they made me see sense that it wasn't the wisest thing to do.
'We have already qualified and, if he played, he would be taking the place of a young player who needs the chance to stake his place in the team. And of course it would be very bad if he picked up an injury. They made me see sense, I listened to the reason around me and I changed my mind.'
One man he did not change his mind over, however, was Cole. Hodgson revealed in the same pre-match briefing that Cole was 'desperate' to play and it was not difficult to see why. To put it mildly, things have not gone according to plan for the England international since he arrived at Anfield in July.
Hodgson may have been happy when he left Bucharest two weeks ago but Cole was not; substituted after 75 minutes that night, the invective he was seen screaming when leaving the pitch - an incident picked up by television cameras - said everything.
So underwhelming where his efforts then that his only action in the time since were 10 minutes as a substitute against Aston Villa when the game had long since been won.
More telling was the fact Hodgson never called on Cole when Liverpool needed a goal at Newcastle last Saturday. When they fell behind at St James' Park for a second time, Hodgson put his faith in Milan Jovanovic to try and pilfer an equaliser, rather than turning to a man who has been capped 56 times by England and has won the Barclays Premier League three times.
Here, then, was an opportunity for Cole to send out a reminder to Hodgson of what he can do; with the game resembling a training ground exercise - no tackling allowed - you might have expected Cole to revel in the conditions.
If he wanted to try those pirouettes, drag backs or clever balls that occasionally enraged Jose Mourinho when the pair worked together at Chelsea, what was the problem? A substantial crowd had come to be entertained and Cole had the repertoire to entertain them.
But, shuffled out to a spot on the left flank, Cole was underemployed to such an extent that it you occasionally left to wonder whether he had actually taken part in the warm-up and then joined Torres on the bench in another change of heart.
If only that were true. Instead, the 29-year-old spent much of the opening 45 minutes scampering and scurrying from one point to another, like the little boy on the schoolyard who wants to take part in the game but nobody will pass to.
When Jovanovic dar ted towards Utrecht's box on the half hour, trying to engineer an opening, a glance to his left would have ensured he saw Cole in yards of space. Instead, he kept his head down and ran into a wall of yellow and black shirts and the chance was gone.
Not surprisingly, Cole cast a glance to the heavens as if to say 'what more can I do?' and the shake of the head that followed was an indication of how frustrated he felt, frustrations that were shared by the home crowd who regularly exhorted chants of 'Attack! Attack! Attack!'
Would things have been different had Torres been on the pitch? Unlikely. For Torres to have had any chance of scoring he would have needed a regularly supply line. And as Cole knew only too well, Liverpool, quite simply, created nothing.
Clicky
from now on I will skip talking about our finances. That is a promise and will save myself from looking like a 
that he is a confidence player and it would seem he is at his lowest ebb at the moment. 
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