Traore taking second Liverpool chance

DJIMI TRAORE was within minutes of quitting Liverpool before new Spanish coach Rafael Benitez fixed him with a look that told him his future was still at Anfield.

Liverpool's unsung heroes get the chance to take a bow against Birmingham in their first home game since the critical and highly-deserved Champions League victory against Deportivo La Coruna.

Benitez has a massive problem if Milan Baros fails a fitness test on a hamstring injury and may have to use either reserve striker Neil Mellor or Florent Sinama-Pongolle up front, just a week after seeing Djibril Cisse ruled out for the season with a double leg fracture.

Fringe players could again be asked to show their worth, just like the unlikely stars of the victory in Spain Igor Biscan and the outstanding Traore. They will take the stage usually reserved for the likes of Steven Gerrard, who is now two weeks away from his comeback after a broken metatarsal.

Traore, a leftover of the Gerard Houllier years, believed he had no future at the club under a new regime and was on the brink of joining Everton in the summer.

But as Traore sets out to further establish himself as Liverpool's left-back against the midlanders, he recounts the moment Benitez changed his mind about quitting the club.

"He looked me straight in the face and fixed his eyes on me and said he did not want me to leave," said Traore.

"That was the moment I changed my mind."

Liverpool expect to have Spanish midfield star Xabi Alonso back in the starting line-up after he was consigned to the substitutes' bench in La Coruna to protect a calf injury, getting on in the midweek 1-0 Champions League win only for the last two minutes.

By then the likes of Traore and Biscan had made sure Liverpool would win for the first time in Spain for 20 years.

Traore said: "I feel I now have more confidence; that is what has changed about me.

"The boss said to me when I was about to join Everton that I would get matches and he did not want me to go.

"Then he moved John Arne Riise to the left wing and there was the possibility for me to play at left-back, and in recent weeks that has gone very well.

"I was very, very close to leaving to be honest. I said to the manager that I wanted to go somewhere where I could play regularly and he said to me he wanted to keep me.

"He said that straight to my face and I am happy to have stayed. I am now in the team, but I know I must continue to work hard to stay in the team."

Meanwhile Birmingham manager Steve Bruce wants Emile Heskey to be judged at the end of the season as he returns to his former club.

Heskey has managed only two goals and none for nearly two months since his £6.25million summer switch ended his four-year spell at Anfield.

Bruce believes Heskey needs to come to terms with leaving a club of the standing of his boyhood heroes Liverpool and losing his place in the England squad since the Euro finals.

Bruce said: "Let's hope it is a role reversal of last week where someone going back to their former club does the business, which is what Andy Johnson did for Crystal Palace against us."