I regularly collect flack for being negative but I was one of the first to acknowledge the progress made by Carlton Goals. Whilst the majority continued to deride his ability, I was pointing to the quality he brought to the team - even before his rush of goals. Sadly, however, despite forcing his way into the England squad and finishing as our top scorer last season, Cole still has his critics amongst our fans and seems to be tolerated rather than adored.
So when commenting on the goals against Beijing, Grumpy posts on the Mordant org, "Beautiful finish by Hines on that one on one. Hope Carlton Cole took note on how it is done." What the poison dwarf fails to notice, however, is that Carlton was square of Hines as the youngster tucked away the chance - and had the keeper saved the shot, Hines would have been rightfully lambasted for not drawing the keeper and slipping a pass sideways. Typically, a cheap shot at Carlton was chosen instead of noting how Cole had offered the option and no doubt contributed to the keeper's indecision. There was also no acknowledgment of Cole's unusual contribution to Gabbidon's goal. For the corner, Cole was positioned on the goal line but as the header hit the back of the net, Cole was on the edge of the six yard box. I have no idea what confusion exactly this caused in the Beijing defence but I am sure his presence unsettled the entire defence.
However, the critics will point to the fact that Cole has not yet netted himself. Sadly, I doubt he will ever be a great goalscorer but that is not his chief strength - like many target men, Cole creates more chances than he scores himself - and it is not his fault that Zola has not signed somebody to feed off him. My worry is that, should we struggle to score, Cole will be held responsible and the fans will start sniping at him again. That, in my opinion, would be very unfair.
6 comments:
couldn't agree more. Cole is a tireless, unselfish, hardworking team player.
The most sensible thing I have seen on here in weeks.
Obviously the holiday is doing you good.
well done you. another public pat on the back.
Yeah i think your completely right. However we should not excuse every loss of possesion on not having a better partner up front, but yh i hope the fans do not get on his back
Why can't you write more stuff like this, instead of the usual crap you turn out?
For once in my life I find myself in agreement with you.
I shall have to go and lie down in a darkened room for an hour or two. Shock doesn't begin to describe it.
Hammersfan, yeah i reckon the media & even many of our supporters, have been & still are ptetty harsh on Carlton. I also remember commenting somewhere about 18 months ago when some were booing the bloke, how unfair it was. Gee, that must have been difficult for him. To his credit he has taken it on & got on with it. Admirable, i have nothing but respect for the man. Ranieri said once that he was the best young player that he ever coached. Ranieri isn't a fool. Zola says that we haven't seen Cole in full flight yet. He's not a fool either. When he was at Chelsea it was Gudjohnsen that pretty much kept him out of the squad. That's the point, he is a very similar player to Gudjohnsen except Guddy scores about one in three. Cole is really an assist striker anyway. That's what he's good at, holding the ball up, working it into a position to feed someone else. He has an awkward style, long gangly legs that seem to get in the way. He looks to me like a 16 year old boy sometimes, you know, when they are at that stage that everything seems to get in way, but that makes him hard to tackle. You would travel a long way to see anyone try harder for the team, his work rate is phenomenal. I reckon Zola is right. Coles critics are going to eat their words this year. If he gets a bit of luck, & he can get a bit more accurate with that head, people are going to realise how much ability he actually has.
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