He won't be top class, obviously, but he'd have been a reliable squad player. He was much better than Warnock was at that age, and Warnock's gone on to be pretty good. Insua was one of the best full backs of his age class, he also counted as a homegrown player. Shame, he was a solid squad player, just needed somebody to play ahead of him as he was far too inexperienced to be playing as regularly as he did.

Rumours of David Ngog going too, but apparently we want £6m so I doubt it would happen...

He's crap. They can have him.

I see Hodgson has got the job of clearing out all king Rafa's woeful signings. Think Liverpool could go well next year with a more astute manager in the transfer market now in charge.

Joe Cole signing for Liverpool is similar to Owen signing for United last season. As there is no fee involved, it doesn't represent that big a risk for either club. If Cole can stay fit and get some games, he'll be a useful signing for Liverpool.

Finding a decent replacement would be the problem. Players don't seem to see Wigan as a desireable destination for some reason.

The World Cup is too big. www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/20 ... -world-cup

The World Cup is too big. www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/20 ... -world-cup

[i"I thought about the semi-final of the Champions League in 2005 when I ran onto the field and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
I was thinking about playing in that atmosphere every week and that swung it for me."

"I could have stayed at Chelsea because the fans loved me and I won things, but I wanted to challenge myself and when I knew Liverpool were interested it was a no-brainer because they are the biggest club in the country."[/i
-Joe Cole

Don't think Wigan Athletic, West Brom, Birmingham or Bolton visiting Anfield are going to give you the same kind of atmosphere, but I could be wrong.

Did all the fans love him? LGJM and SS didn't seem to be too enamoured.

The biggest club in the country? Really Joe?

Obsessed

TBH even Joe's biggest supporters would admit that he's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, but thinking that the normal match at Anfield compares with that semi final is stupidity in the extreme.



While me and SS are in the correct majority in assessing Joe Cole as being past his best, there is still a significant number of CFC fans who did love Cole and wanted him to stay.

IMO he was loved a great deal more by the supporters than he deserved to be.



As I said, he's a bit dim. LFC are the most successful club in the country, but they clearly aren't the biggest.

But most of what he said was, IMO, standard football interview where you ingratiate yourself to your new supporters by saying how great they are. I don't think there'll be any scousers who didn't like the things he said, and those supporters are the most important to him right now.

He's Hodgson's "big signing". Its unlikely that he's going to start on the bench as Owen did. He'll be in the starting 11, the team will be re-shaped to accommodate him and his style of play, at least to some extent. How he performs will have quite a big impact on Liverpool's start to the season. Owen was a low risk signing, Cole isn't.

Fantastic start to Hodgson's reign. I'm liking the Wilson signing. Anybody who watches SPL will tell you he's a cracking signing. I'm excited about the new season, we realistically have five big clubs and a MASSIVE one challenging for the title and a top four finish. I like our signing of Hernandez as he looked pretty decent in the world cup.