Aldridge: Spirits Are High At Liverpool Again

THE spirit’s back. After the disappointment of conceding a late equaliser against Arsenal on Sunday, the main thing that struck me was the mood inside Anfield – from the pitch to the stands.
It got lower than low towards the end of last season. The manager and players looked tired. It needed a shake-up and now we’re seeing positive early signs.
On Sunday you could see the players communicating and talking tactics on the pitch.
That rarely happened under Rafa Benitez. They were like soldiers out there, following strict instructions. It was often too regimented.

Against Arsenal, it was different. There was more freedom. Steven Gerrard was always talking, barking orders. It was good to see.
It was a very spirited performance, particularly in the second half with 10 men; and hanging on for five or six minutes with nine men when Daniel Agger was struggling.
Liverpool were tremendous defensively and kept their shape well.
It doesn’t matter where you put Gerrard, he’ll just get on with it. We know how effective he’s been up front with Fernando Torres.
But now the manager has changed it round and put Steven in a position where a lot of people want to see him – in central midfield.
He can still get forward from there and score goals, as he did for England last week. We need goals from throughout the team, though. Torres will always score but then you’re looking for at least 10 a season from whoever plays behind him.
I’m sure Gerrard will get double figures from midfield. But instead of just Gerrard and Torres getting us goals there has to be more emphasis throughout the team to get us where we need to be in the table.
This is where Joe Cole could be key. He’s clearly got frustrated before the red card on Sunday.
He was fired up. Cole hasn’t got on the ball as much as he would have liked. I’ve done many of them as a striker.
Of course, there are red cards and yellow cards. Looking at the Cole incident, it was an orange card!

You can see why he was sent off but everyone knows he’s not a dirty player. He’s not malicious so maybe the referee should have taken that into consideration.
A little bit of common sense – which most referee’s don’t have – should have prevailed.
As I say, I can see why the referee has dismissed him according to the letter of the law but a yellow card would have sufficed.
Because Liverpool have opted not to appeal, Cole will now be out for three Premier League games. That makes it even more important to give him the full 90 minutes against Trabzonspor on Thursday night.
Liverpool and Cole will benefit from the player putting a good shift in without having to worry about the next game against Manchester City.
The same goes for Torres on Thursday. He looks rusty at the moment and would benefit from a good hour or so against the Turkish side.