Chelsea's usually effervescent midfielder was just about to head out of Stamford Bridge, clutching the cold bottle and the warm memories of his match-winning goal, when his manager, Jose Mourinho, knocked his No 10 off Cloud Nine.
Mourinho has swiftly espied Cole's major weakness, a flaw that has restricted his chances of claiming a starting place for club and country. Like the most skilful boy in the playground, Cole can often seem most obsessed with creating and finishing, with entertaining not containing.
Mourinho demands all his outfield players contribute to both facets of the game, attacking and defending. So he was livid when Cole, having struck to ecstatic acclaim in the 64th minute, failed to track back when a poor Liverpool side desperately missing Steven Gerrard mounted some limited, late attacks.
Always eventful, Mourinho's debriefings are fast becoming the hottest ticket in Fleet Street. He was quickly into his theme. "Joe Cole gave us some dynamism and scored a goal," the Portuguese began innocently, before adding: "But after that I needed 11 players defending but I only had 10.
"Joe Cole still has a lot to learn. He has to improve if he is going to do it for club and country. He didn't do enough after the goal. I can make him better. He wants to become better. He has two faces: one is beautiful when he attacks with the ball. I want to keep that face. The other face is not so good, defensively, and I don't like it so much."
If the criticism was harsh in its timing, if not content, Cole could benefit from watching Damien Duff, who kept gliding past Josemi while more than contributing to Chelsea's impressive defensive solidity. With 13 minutes remaining, Duff sprinted back right to his touchline to put in a marvelous, sliding dispossession on Jamie Carragher.
"Everyone [but Cole] was fully committed in attack and defence," Mourinho added. "Duff was fantastic. Paulo Ferreira was like a winger for 90 minutes and also put in good challenges."
Cole accepted the Special One's disapproval. "The manager has no axe to grind with me," he said. "He just wants to make me a better player. I'll sit down and talk to him and listen to what he says. He's a fantastic manager."
For all his defensive deficiencies, Cole still enlivened what had been a pretty dire game. He joined the unappealing action after 37 minutes, scampering on for Didier Drogba, who had pulled a groin and will, according to Mourinho, "be out for two to four weeks".
Cole was immediately involved, carrying the ball forward, spreading play, beating Liverpool tackles. Shortly after the interval, he was breaking in from the left and firing goalwards. Chris Kirkland, looking good on his first start under Rafa Benitez, blocked Cole's shot but failed to kill all the ball's momentum. Harry Kewell cleared off the line.
Cole refused to be downcast by this, simply redoubling his efforts to force the breakthrough against a Liverpool defence for whom Carragher was outstanding. He did not have long to wait to leave his mark indelibly on this otherwise lacklustre encounter.
The watching Sven-Goran Eriksson will have been impressed with the English understanding underpinning Chelsea's goal. Frank Lampard clipped in a low free-kick, looking for Cole's run, and the little No 10 escaped Josemi and used his right foot to re-direct the ball past Kirkland. Cole had guaranteed all the points but Mourinho still had a point to make to him.