Liverpool Beat Steaua: Cole, Babel, Spearing Impress Ahead of Man United Match

Liverpool eventually ran out comfortable 4-1 winners at Anfield last night over Romanian outfit Steaua Bucharest, who for much of the first half had matched their opponents and momentarily threatened an upset.

After Joe Cole gave the Reds a dream start following his goal after just 27 seconds—the fastest in Liverpool's European history—Steaua worked themselves back into the game and scored an equaliser through Tanase.

Steaua dominated much of the first half of the game but after the break a much improved Liverpool took control of the match and, after Kyrgiakos was hauled to the ground following a corner, David Ngog stroked the resulting penalty home to put Liverpool back in front.

The improvement of the home side's passing and movement was very much evident in the second half, as Steaua struggled to come to terms with falling behind for a second time. Liverpool ended strongly as, only moments after coming on as a substitute, Brazilian midfielder Lucas crashed home their third of the night from range, to the delight of the onlooking Kop crowd.

Youngsters Dani Pacheco and Nathan Eccleston also entered the fray late on for Liverpool, in time to see forward David Ngog wrap up the scoring with a fine strike from inside the box late on, his sixth goal of the campaign already.

Joe Cole will no doubt grab the headlines in the papers for his display upon his return to the side, which, aside from seeing him open his account, also gave Reds fans tantalising glimpses of Cole's potential to re-invigorate an attack which has been somewhat turgid of late.

Recent games against Birmingham and Manchester City have seen the Reds fail to create too many chances, something which Cole's return to domestic competition should help to overcome.

Cole was at his vibrant best during this game when he was able to receive the ball facing goal and drive at the opposition defence; his close dribbling technique and speed of turns is something which gives defenders nightmares as they bid to take the ball away from him without giving away free-kicks.

Time and time again Cole was able to take on his man in midfield before releasing the likes of Ryan Babel and Maxi Rodriguez into space on the flanks.

He visibly grew in confidence after his goal and his showmanship was on full display in the early part of the game, several flicks and backheels wowing the Anfield crowd as Liverpool looked to press home the advantage of taking an early lead.

After seeing Cole miss a penalty against Trabzonspor at Anfield in a previous Europa League fixture, scoring a goal in the same competition will do his confidence the world of good and he has put himself in strong contention for a starting berth on Sunday for the game against Manchester United.

Cole was also involved in Liverpool's third goal as his run—and then determination when lying on the floor to keep the ball moving—saw it eventually run to Lucas Leiva, who took one touch before slamming the ball home from distance.

Another who impressed in Liverpool's attack, albeit for different reasons, was Ryan Babel. The Dutchman has been criticised for not scoring enough, for not working hard enough, for moaning about being played out of position and even for enjoying rapping, but on Thursday night he put all those claims to bed—at least temporarily—with a team-focused performance out on the left flank.

While he didn't trouble the scorers, he did have one or two sharp shots from range and another chance from inside the box he might have done better with. However, it was his work rate and link-up play which impressed me most.

Many times he passed well with Joe Cole and Paul Konchesky; exactly the type of link play down the flanks Liverpool have been missing in recent league matches. In the first half Babel was also able to come infield on occasions, interchanging with Cole and continuing the Reds' attacks through the centre of the park.

While Babel might not make the starting eleven for the big United match on Sunday, he has at least given Roy Hodgson something to think about and shown that he can have an impact on games and has perhaps even put Maxi under pressure to up his own game, given that the Argentine had another below par performance on the right side for Liverpool against Steaua.

Babel was due to play the final quarter of an hour up front for Liverpool when Lucas was coming on for Ngog, but a last minute check saw Babel replaced instead as he was beginning to suffer from cramp.

Not a world-class display from Babel by any means, but certainly one which gives encouraging signs and if his performances continue to improve along these lines then he is making a case to be turned to when Liverpool need more attacking impetus—unlike the Birmingham match when neither he, Ngog, or Pacheco were turned to with the score still at 0-0.

One final player who stood out for the Reds in the Europa League match was young midfielder Jay Spearing.

With league chances at a premium for younger players trying to make the grade at Anfield, the Carling Cup and Europa League will provide a great platform for the likes of Spearing to show their value.

Having already had a taste of European football against the likes of Real Madrid and PSV Eindhoven, Spearing will have relished the chance to make his first Anfield start on the European stage as well, and acquitted himself well to the task.

An unfortunate slip on the wet turf saw the Steaua midfield capitalise for their equalising goal, but Spearing controlled the midfield after that and did not look out of place alongside his more illustrious partner in the centre; fellow Anfield debutant Raul Meireles. While Meireles was able to roam and probe the Steaua defence with his repertoire of passing, Spearing was asked to hold the fort in front of the defence and did so admirably.

His well-timed crunching challenges and neat passing have been a feature of the Liverpool Reserve team midfield for the past couple of seasons and both were on full display on Thursday night.

In the second half as Liverpool grew in stature and controlled the match more, Spearing was able to push forward at times and saw one effort fly just over the cross bar before being involved late on in David Ngog's second goal, Spearing's forceful run into the box reminiscent of his fellow academy graduate Steven Gerrard, who sat in the stands at Anfield watching from above.

All in all, an impressive result for Liverpool and a much improved second half display, while Roy Hodsgon will be happy that his "backups" have proved they can perform—and perhaps one or two have played their way into contention for Sunday's big game.