Joe Cole devastated, Gunners draw against Reds after Reina own goal
Roy Hodgson, Liverpool’s manager claims that Joe was utterly “Devastated” after he got sent off on his Liverpool debut.
The famous free transfer from Chelsea was sent out of the match in the first half with a Red Card and left the ten man squad battling for a win against Arsenal.
David Ngog scored a goal in the first few minutes of the second half and it seemed that “The Reds” were about to score a victory over “the Gunners” even with a man short.
Sadly they were denied a victory in the last few minutes of the game because of an own goal by Jose Reina.
Hodgson, commented further on Cole, by saying that he was devastated as this was his debut at Liverpool and he was trying desperately to do well plus the atmosphere was fantastic.
Hodgson said that this was definitely not the top of his game, but still he was trying really hard to get to that level of play in that game, when he got sent off.
Joe Cole was shown a straight Red Card for an irresponsible tackle on Arsenal’s player Laurent Koscielny.
Hodgson seriously feels that the Red Card was very harsh and un-called for and is now considering appealing.
The most surprising part of the whole dilemma is that they found a character witness, and this was Arsene Wenger who is Arsenal’s manager. Wenger expressed sympathy for the player and commented by saying that the foul occurred in the corner and as he was on the bench so he could not see it.
He continued by saying that Joe Cole is normally a fair player and is not known as one of the players who try to hurt their opponents on the field.
He continued by saying that this is just not Cole’s style and maybe he was just trying to rush a tackle. Koscienly got a knock on his shin which may have been just an accident. Still the referee felt compelled to show a Red Card so he did.
The shin pad that Koscienly was wearing protected him well. The team doctor said that when he first got injured they were worried that the leg was broken. When he was moved off the pitch on a stretcher the physio told them that it can be a broken bone.
Koscielny just had a 9.7 million pound signing from Lorient and was taken off the field on a stretcher but was back on the field in the second half of the game.
Koscielny was actually later sent off himself in injury time for a second offence.
Hodgson commented that after watching the replays of the incident, he just thinks that Cole was just unlucky to get the Red Card. He did not dive to tackle the player but did it to get the ball.
Unluckily the players legs got caught up in between and he twisted his knee.
Arsenal dominated ball possession through most of the first half of the match. Liverpool came back strongly in the second half and scored a goal at the start.
The goal came from Ngog and he scored a minute into the second half. This did make “the Gunners” retaliate heavily but still “the Reds” put up a good fight.
Jose Reina was a brilliant goal keeper throughout the match giving a great performance, and made a lot of terrific saves.
Sadly, when a goal attempt was made by Chamakh the ball deflected from the goal post. While the goalie was trying to catch the ball it slipped out of his hand and went into the post to become an own goal by “the Reds”.
This was the game equalizer and even after that “the Gunners” kept on coming and the Reds did not let them through. Even with a man short the Reds put up a great performance it was only a small blunder made on Reina’s part which did not give them the win.
Still, all things aside Arsenal still could not win the match and did not manage to score even a single goal.
Reina took it really hard on himself for scoring an own goal as he is a very serious and professional player. He believes a lot in the team and himself and expects a lot from both.
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