Date: 1st June 2011 at 8:24am
Written by:

On the 19th July 2010 it was announced that Joe Cole had signed for Liverpool FC. A well respected, quality midfield play-maker and England international star, Cole’s signing was greeted with delight on Merseyside. Not only had the Anfield outfit picked up a fantastic player, but they’d got him for free! Allegedly rejecting the likes of Tottenham and Arsenal in order to come to Liverpool, Cole cited reasons such as the great history of the club and the prospect of forming a midfield partnership with Steven Gerrard for his decision. Great anticipation surrounded Joe Cole’s debut season at Anfield (Gerrard even said Cole was “better than Messi”) but, unfortunately, things didn’t quite go as planned.

Sent off in his debut game against Arsenal, it has been downhill ever since for the Liverpool number 10. Sure, there have been flashes of Cole’s old genius, such as his 25 second goal against Steaua Bucharest in the Europa League, but ultimately his season has been typified by injury troubles and an alarming loss of form. Now Cole is unable to get into the first team and can only watch as the likes of Raul Meireles, Jay Spearing, Lucas Leiva and Maxi Rodriguez improve week by week. Cole has been reduced to a bit-part player at Liverpool and word is he is on the way out.

Several teams have been linked with the midfielder but the most likely of them is a reunion with former manager Harry Redknapp at Tottenham Hotspur. The question is, should Cole stay at Liverpool or move on to pastures new?

Certainly what Joe Cole needs is to start a few games on the trot in order to regain his confidence and find his form again. Kenny Dalglish does seem genuine too when he has stated that he wants Joe Cole to get back to his best and become a regular fixture in the team. The problem is, of course, that with so many of the other Liverpool players on top form it is tough to justify replacing any of them with a player who is not at his best. And with no Europa League next season, which would have been an ideal place for Cole to get a few confidence building matches, where can the Liverpool manager actually put him in a starting line-up regularly?
However, one would argue that he would face the same problems at Tottenham. Assuming Spurs can hold onto their main midfielders then the likes of Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon, Marlon Sandro, Jermaine Jenas and Steven Pienaar are all options for Harry Redknapp. How exactly is Joe Cole going to be able to start regularly and get on a good run of form in that team? Even with the option of playing Cole in Europa League matches, I still think it would be difficult for Redknapp.

Continue to next page

12 responses to “They said he was better than Messi”

  1. Scott says:

    What is this talk of “Cole would have to take a pay cut to stay at Anfield” he doesnt have to do that, unfortunately, as he has another 3 years on his contract. It looks like we are stuck with him because he isn’t going to go to QPR for £20k a week, you know that as well as me. So you “advising” him not to squander his ‘great’ talent is a poor effort to pull on his heart strings. The fact is Joe Cole had a huge reputation as a talent before he even made his first team debut for West Ham and he’s lived off it ever since. He’s never been a fixture since he left West Ham and unfortunately Woy thought as he was a free then we could afford to pay him the exaggerated pay. Cole knows this so he is going nowhere.

    All is not doom & gloom though as our only hope is that he goes on loan to someone like QPR and we subsidise his pay.

  2. mcscouse says:

    Isnt it amazin how the media conveniently miss out a few words of a soundbite by stevie g and use it as usual to belittle the man and the club , Steven Gerrard said “joe cole is better than Messi at juggling a tennis ball” after seeing Cole perform his party piece

  3. Kenny Dalglish says:

    Look lads ,

    Worst case scenario is he stays at the club & gets no better .
    Hardly a big problem for a club among the top ten richest in the world & remember that the world is a big place .
    So Joe Cole stays & gets no better what does that leave us with ?
    A damn good standard reserve team number 10 for some kid coming through to set his sights on , thats how it works when you lot arent trying to breast feed em & play mammy to em.
    Joe Cole appears to be a prima donna that cant play unless he is the linchpin the squad is built around .
    Unfortunately for him that only happened once for him when Harry Redknapp built a shit West Ham squad around him as a youngster , before he moved to Chelsea .
    If we can remember Harry Kewell who at least could do the basics well it was a similar scenario of a big fish joining a pool of big fish & his game suffered for it .
    What Cole has & what he gives us is a the experience of a player who has won leagues & cups in England , he also has the ability to come into the side on rotation & surprise us all with some quality because we all now think he is shit .
    Let the suits & ties balance the books , if Joe Cole is the worst player at our club I will be a happy man , he is versatile , experienced & he at worst has moments of quality .
    Lets forget about the penny pinching & go out & buy Arjen Robben , Gareth Bale , Stewart Downing , Leighton Baines & win the League .
    Leave the cheapskate routine to Arsenal .

  4. OZTHEMAN says:

    Liverpool one of the 10 richest clubs in the world.. lol lol lol lol lol lol Get real mate you are over 225 million in debt and your ground is as good as the toilets are at most modern grounds.. Live in the real world or is YOUR REAL WORLD NEXT SEASON?

  5. Gaga says:

    I for one never liked the thought of him coming to anfield and was proved right. If they are on a free, most of the time they are rubbish and want to get them off the wage bill. LFC waste far to much resources

  6. bargeass says:

    225m in debt???. Where have you been for the least 12 months you twat. Our club was sold, and our debt was cleared. Your a friggin muppet who needs to wake once and while and check out whats happening in the real world. Get your hand of the crack pipe, im suprised your sober enough to be able to type… Idiot.

  7. verma says:

    get your head out of the toilet and catch up to whats happening in the real world today..shit for brains.

  8. ste says:

    What I found more baffling at the time was Jamie Carragher’s statement that Cole was “like a God” in the city, after he’d only played a couple of games. I thought that was a bit of an insult to the intelligence of the fans.

  9. Sam Kiernan says:

    oZTHEMAN go suck balls fella if you know nothing about our club then keep your hairy beak out pal

    personally I would like to see us keep JC as he is a good squad member and thats something we dont have a good enough squad

  10. Jack says:

    Don’t know which planet you have been living in for the past few months OZTHEMAN. LFc have written off nearly all their debt. They are now around £62 million in debt compared to your £225 million. Oh we have the most lucrative shirt sponsorship in the country. And if you want to get some real facts as opposed to making them up in your head, check out the league tables of the 10 most richest clubs.

  11. Kenny Dalglish says:

    Well played lads , thats the way to hunt in packs & tear a scumbag attacker apart ,

    Well played lads , number 19 coming right up !

  12. Alan says:

    u sound like a fucking Manure. Just who the fuck are u to criticise LFC with all these bullshit. Do some fucking research before u blare off that rubbish mouth of yours. if u really are a Manure, go to ur own website and criticise ur own team – they are not all angels too.