Source: Liverpool_Echo
Blood Red: Joe Cole is facing a growing challenge at Anfield
Joe Cole 300[LNB]ROY HODGSON has been guilty of defending under-performing players on too many occasions so far this season.[LNB]His declaration that the derby display at Goodison was the best of his tenure and that Liverpool had 'battled well' at Stoke being two cases in point.[LNB]However, not even Hodgson could bring himself to talk up Joe Cole's performance in Wednesday's dour stalemate with Utrecht.[LNB]'Joe knows he is better than that and he knows he can do better than that,' he said. 'He sets himself high standards and I'm sure he came off the field feeling it was not the performance he wanted to give.'[LNB] The final Europa League group game may have been meaningless for Liverpool but for Cole it represented a glorious opportunity to kick-start his Anfield career. The chance was spurned.[LNB]As one of the most experienced players on show, it should have been Cole pulling the strings and cajoling a performance out of the youngsters alongside him.[LNB]Instead he remained firmly on the periphery throughout to the point that when his shot was blocked late on many had forgotten he was even still out there.[LNB]The midfielder is clearly desperately short of confidence and it's easy to see why. Little has gone right for him since he left Chelsea as a free agent and opted to make the switch to Anfield this summer.[LNB]Sent off for a crude lunge on the opening weekend of the Premier League season against Arsenal, Cole then missed a penalty in front of the Kop against Trabzonspor.[LNB]In October he admitted to being in the worst form of his career and then promptly pulled a hamstring at Bolton and was out for a month.
