Joe Cole explains what went wrong for him at Liverpool

By Nick Wright Saturday, January 5, 2013
9:30 AM

West Ham’s Joe Cole says his troubles at former club at Liverpool were down to a lack of playing opportunities and badly-timed setbacks.

The 31-year-old was signed by former Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson after his contract at Chelsea expired in 2010.

After two difficult seasons at the club he spent a year on loan at French side Lille before returning to Liverpool, where Brendan Rodgers had taken the reigns from the departed Kenny Dalglish.

Cole’s Liverpool nightmare came to an end yesterday when he sealed his move to boyhood club West Ham.

And he sees no reason why he can’t get back to his former self at Upton Park.

“I’ve been a good player at West Ham before, a good player at Chelsea, a good player for Lille and a good player for England,” he said.

“At Liverpool there weren’t enough opportunities there to play.”

Cole was sent off on his Liverpool debut against Arsenal back in 2010 and he struggled with form and fitness thereafter.

“It was very broken. The sending off in the first game didn’t help,” he said.

“There were a couple of small injuries at bad times too.

“There are plenty of reasons, manager changes [too].”

He continued: “Did I ever think I was a bad player? No.

“Did I ever feel pressure out there to play? Yes, that’s for sure.

“You go onto the pitch when you’ve got 20 minutes or 10 minutes and sometimes you’re trying a bit too hard because there’s a lot of pressure on you.”

Despite his unsuccessful stay at Liverpool, Cole was full of praise for his former club, and manager Brendan Rodgers.

“I can’t fault anyone there,” he said. “No one did me any wrong, it’s a good club.

“Brendan’s a great manager. He’s the right man for the job.”

He added: “I just want to move on from it really. It didn’t work. Everyone is disappointed but you move on and you look forward.”