At the club, he tended to be used out of position by Houllier, often played at centre back or full back and as a result never had the chance to demonstrate whether he was capable of playing a central midfield role for the club, although the evidence did suggest he was somewhat out of his depth. His first Liverpool goal came against Spartak Moscow in the Champions League. He scored a total of three goals, only one coming in the league, in a 1–0 win at Leeds United in October 2002. He was left out of Liverpool's squad for the victorious 2003 Football League Cup Final despite playing often in the earlier rounds, including the semi-final first leg against Sheffield United.