Liverpool's Joe Cole has urged his team-mates to get ruthless

Joe Cole: Liverpool must be ruthless
Joe Cole admits Liverpool must become more ruthless in front of goal if they are going to climb the Premier League table.

The Reds remain in 14th place after Sunday's 0-0 draw with Stoke and they have netted just nine goals in seven games, with five coming against struggling Norwich.

Cole believes the team can take plenty of positives out of their display against the Potters, but he accepts that Liverpool must start making their dominance count in matches.

"There was a bit of frustration in the dressing room after the Stoke game," said Cole, who came on as a substitute at Anfield. "We felt we should have won the game with the chances we had.

"The only criticism of us that I would have was that we didn't stick the ball in the back of the net. We just lacked that final bit. We have two weeks now to work on it and we're looking forward."

"There's a lot to work on but we have got to take the positives out of it. We didn't get beat and we kept a clean sheet, which was important as we haven't kept one for a long time. Now we just need to kick on.

"I know a lot of the lads are now away on international duty, but we have got two weeks to keep going, keep working on things, getting in and around the box and picking the right pass.

"Hopefully we can get three points at home to Reading and then we can go to Goodison and get a result."

Cole felt youngsters such as Suso, Raheem Sterling and Andre Wisdom stood up well to the physical challenge posed by Stoke.

"It was important for the young boys and I thought they were really good again," he said. "I think you've got to match Stoke .They're strong lads and they like to compete.

"Personally, it was brilliant to get back. You're always nervous with hamstring injuries in terms of the first time you come back in. But I felt good and I have two weeks now to work hard and get back up to a high level of fitness."