Liverpool's Attacking Conundrum: Solving The Joe Cole Role

For the past few seasons under former manager Rafael Benitez, Liverpool adopted a 4-2-3-1 system which saw a lone striker; Fernando Torres for the most part; supported by a cast of three attackers. Whilst the wide men have come and gone, rotated and been substituted, vilified and persevered with, the one constant has been Steven Gerrard operating behind the centre forward.

In 2008/09 season, with Xabi Alonso supplying the ammunition from midfield, Gerrard excelled in the role of playing off Torres and combined superbly with the Spanish front-man, scoring 16 goals in 31 appearances in the Premier League as Liverpool finished runners-up.

However, last season's sale of Alonso, coupled with the failure of would-be replacement Alberto Aquilani to a) recover from injury quick enough and b) come to terms with playing centre midfield in England, meant that quality passes to the front lines were in short supply, something which contributed significantly to Gerrard's own performance and that of the Liverpool attack in general.

With Gerrard seeming to be heading back into a more central role this term in the Liverpool engine-room, the signing of Joe Cole, heralded as a master-stroke by new boss Roy Hodgson, looks to be the one made with filling the void in attack in mind as Hodgson continues with the 4-2-3-1 approach.

As a young player at West Ham United Cole was a precocious talent who, allied to his undoubted skill in attack, worked hard to help his team in a central midfield role as captain in the season the Hammers were relegated from the Premiership. A move to Chelsea materialised and since then Cole has mainly operated on either flank, as more of a creative force to cut in rather than a speedy winger to get past the opposition full back.

In leaving Chelsea on a free transfer, however, Cole made it clear that he saw a future role for himself as a central attacker, to utilise his close control and dribbling ability in the most dangerous areas of the pitch.

His first games in a Liverpool shirt, however, have varied between good moments and terrible - assists for goals for David Ngog and Ryan Babel in the Europa League tempered by his early dismissal on his Reds Premier League debut against Arsenal, since which he has not been able to figure in domestic competition.

Thursday night's Europa League tie against Steaua Bucharest should see Cole revert to the starting lineup in his favoured central role playing just off a striker - likely to be the aforementioned Ngog or Babel - but it is on Sunday when Cole returns from suspension that we may see the first glimpse of Roy Hodgson's plans for Cole in the longer term.

The trip to Manchester United, always a difficult and pressure-filled fixture, could provide an insight into whether Hodgson really has faith in Cole's ability to perform - and to excel - in that role at the highest level.

Midfield signings Raul Meireles and Christian Poulsen could feasibly be paired together at Old Trafford, allowing Gerrard to return to his more attacking role. That would leave Cole either pushed over to one of the wings or left on the bench - unthinkable at this point, given Liverpool's lack of creativity and cutting edge this season which has seen them score just two goals in the opening four fixtures of the league season.

Liverpool have been crying out for some creativity and invention this season, early on as it is in the campaign, and Cole is the man most likely to be turned to for inspiration. Whilst his talent is in no doubt, his ability to utilise it to maximum effect for Liverpool will come under close scrutiny over the coming fixtures. In addition to his creative talents, one side of his game Cole will undoubtedly have to improve on is his goal scoring. While Gerrard has scored at least 11 goals every season for Liverpool since 2004/05 - three times scoring over 20 goals -, Cole has only twice in his career to date reached the double-figures milestone. 

Last season's injuries and Carlo Ancelotti's preference for playing Malouda, Anelka and Drogba as Chelsea's front three mean it has been quite a while since Cole was able to string together any kind of run of starts, much less ten or a dozen consecutive 90-minute performances.

Starting in Romania on Thursday, he will hope those days are behind him and he can begin to integrate himself into the first names on Liverpool's team sheet, alongside the likes of Carragher, Reina, Gerrard and Torres.

Should he find himself out wide on the right against Manchester United on Sunday, so early on in his career at Anfield we can hardly write him off in the central position, but if he is given the chance to shine in that role it would be incredibly helpful for Cole - and for Liverpool - if he can kick-start his partnership with Fernando Torres by setting up a few goals for the Reds' number 9.