Jamie Carragher claims Joe Cole is a 'God' in Liverpool,
but if so the man upstairs must have two left feet, as the new
Anfield number 10 has had a shocking start to life at his new
club.
Cole was sent off on Sunday for a truly silly scissors challenge
on Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny. Then last night he saw a poor
penalty kick saved against Trabzonspor. It was the first he had
taken in a competitive match since he was 13. "I scored that one,"
Cole confirmed.
And if that were not enough, Cole was found guilty on Wednesday
of speeding at 105mph and faces a
ban, despite the best
efforts of celebrity lawyer Nick 'Mr Loophole' Freeman. Quite a
week.
Cole will have until next Thursday's return leg against
Trabzonspor to stew over his miss, as he now serves a three-match
domestic ban (and could be getting the bus to training).
No doubt Cole will say his faltering start is "just one of them
things" but the fact is how you start can make a huge difference to
your fortunes at a club.
It will take some time before Liverpool fans start getting on
Cole's back. They tend to back their players even in the face of
irrefutable evidence of decline (here's lookin' at you, Carra) and
so they should - they are football supporters after all.
But the unrestrained jubilation that greeted the arrival of a
Chelsea fringe player is just beginning to look a little misplaced.
Diego Forlan's inability to find the net for 26 games (admittedly,
most were as a sub) torpedoed his Manchester United career.
Even when he finally found the net he could not play with the
freedom and self-assurance that has since enabled him to become
officially the best player in the World (Cup).
Goalkeeper Massimo Taibi produced a sequence of horrific
howlers, culminating in a legendary fumble that allowed a tame Matt
Le Tissier shot to squirrel underneath his body. And that was
that.
Ferguson said in his autobiography that although he still rated
Taibi as a keeper, the Le Tiss error convinced the United manager
to ditch him. Taibi's confidence, he reasoned, would never be the
same again, and he could not visit an away ground without being
reminded of the blunder.
The point is, a bad start affects both you and your opponents.
You take the field anxious, rather than exuding calm confidence.
They look at you in the tunnel and have a little snigger at that
open goal you put into orbit last weekend.
Take Andriy Shevchenko, who began at Chelsea with two goals in
three games but then saw his aura of invincibility slip over the
next 26 games, during which time he scored just four times.
No longer did opposing defenders awe the man who routinely
tallied 25 a season for Milan and won the 2004 Ballon d'Or. They
had empirical evidence that he was actually a bit rubbish.
Jonathan Woodgate's Real Madrid debut was one to savour, and
came over a year after he signed for the club due to injuries.
Woody powered a remarkable diving header into his own net, got
sent off for two bookable offences and that was it: his reputation
as a loveable clown was secured and his career at Real effectively
over.
Early Doors could go on, but it won't bother as it is
approaching its word limit.
Looking on the positive side, Mario Balotelli's debut goal at
Timisoara could be the making of him. Even though it was just a
tap-in in a Europa League qualifier that he nearly missed.
The same for Javier Hernandez after that ridiculous Community
Shield goal that went in off his face. It was a goal - never mind
how.
Like a golfer who has won his first Major, Balotelli and
Hernandez have got over the hump. They can now relax and play with
freedom.
As for Cole? He now has it all to prove and immediately finds
himself under pressure. It's not terminal to his hopes of success
at Liverpool, but it certainly doesn't help.
