Carlton just gets better and better. I was a little worried watching him against Pompey, Blackburn and Burnley, fearing that he had lost his confidence after that injury lay off. He wasn't as committed, wasn't as assured, wasn't completely in the zone; but last night's performance suggests that he was just a little ring rusty in his initial come back games. Against Birmingham, he was back to his best.
Cole took his goal wonderfully, getting in front of and across his marker to glance home his header, in a way that reminded me of Peters in his pomp. The turn and shot in the first half was breathtaking. Okay, the effort went well wide, but the confidence and the skill displayed in first holding the ball and then turning the defender and shooting, in one sweet movement, was very exciting. Cole would not have dared to try this 12 months ago. This new improved version seems to have everything. He is big, he is strong, he is confident, he is scoring with his left and right feet and with his head, and he is a superb target man, holding up the ball brilliantly and showing superb awareness of team mates too. His control is now so good that he is playing with his head up and spotting the movement of others in a way that is rare for a big man up front. Heskey has been Capello's first choice until now because of his ability to bring the best out of others around him; well Cole is now better at that job and is scoring regularly into the bargain.
Three moments stood out for me in the second half, apart from the wonderful goal. The first saw Cole receive the ball facing his own goal about ten yards outside Birmingham's box, and with his marker close enough for them to feature in the opening shot of a gay love photo story. Cole controlled the ball instantly, stepped way from his marker, looked back, turned into space, looked up, spotted Diamanti free on the left and delivered a beautifully weighted pass. Skill, strength, vision, technique, awareness and calm all epitomised in five seconds!
The second was when he chased that long aimless ball into the box on the left hand side. Cole looked second or third favourite to get to the ball, but an amazing burst of speed saw him outstrip two Birmingham defenders. He then showed great strength to shield the ball and superb awareness to turn back, spot Noble and deliver a perfect pass.
The third was less dramatic but showed how much he now thinks about the game. Again he received the ball with his back to the Birmingham goal and tightly marked. Again he stepped away from the defender, turned and looked for a forward pass to the left. Finding nobody in space in a crowded midfield, he shielded, turned again and looked for a pass to the right. With no "safe ball" available there, he turned back and played a 10 yard pass backwards to Upson, allowing us to set up another phase of play. Nothing magical there at all, but it was considered, it was thoughtful, it was controlled, and it was all about ball retention. The old Cole would have turned into trouble or passed a ball that put a team mate under pressure. The new Cole thinks about the options and, most of the time, makes the right choices! If he could learn to win free kicks by "crumpling", Shearer style, under a challenge from behind for a high ball, then he would be the complete centre forward!
Stronger than Kanoute, more skilful than Hartson, more complete than Cross, Pearson or Zamora, faster and more durable than Ashton, Cole is now our best centre forward since Geoff Hurst. If he continues in this form, he is a shoe in for Capello's squad and a good bet to be first pick alongside Rooney by the time the World Cup kicks off. And to think that one idiot on the Org expressed pleasure when Cole was injured against Villa! Had Cole and Franco remained fit through December and January, relegation would not now be an issue!
40 comments:
What about Cottee and McAvennie?
I agree he is good, very good, but not quite there yet....
They were not centre forwards. They were strikers. Different breed. Like Defoe and Pop Robson.
Haven't you forgotten somebody?
Yes he has, me!
He will be sold
:(
wer can u find highlights of the game??
Geoff Hurst was a Striker....
COLE is definately a much improved player and there are similarities in his play to Hurst, but he has some way to go to catch Geoff up.Hurst always said that his strike partner Byrne made his job a lot easier. Cottee & Mcavennie, Hartson & Kitson, Cross & Robson.
Cole needs that great partnership, so who can you see best suited to that role out of the current squad?
One of your best threads and one of the few (only?) one's I agree with maybe? If we didn't know any better we'd say it is all natural talent but maybe to Zola and Clarke's credit along with a lot of hard work by Cole obviously, he has learnt to be one of the more acomplished centre forwards in our best English league. In keeping with most hard to satisfy (completely) West Ham fans I would just like to see him get on with the game a bit more often as he spends far too much time looking for the ref to change his mind, when nobody has explained obviously that the ref never will. Cole for England and hopefully he will follow an old tradition and stay at West Ham too?
1740, Hurst was a centre forward in the sense that he was a target man and was strong. Cottee and others mentioned are different types of players. Hurst could have partnered Rooney, Owen and Defoe, just like Cole can.
It could have been Dean Ashton!
"As far as departures go, I can’t see any point in hanging on to Carlton Cole"
Iain Dale, August 28th, 2007
LOL Really? What a twat! I was banging Carlton's drum long before it was fashionable to do so and when I predicted that he would collect more England caps than Ashton (he had not yet played for England), it was to howls of derision!
HF - you bang you drum a lot mate - usually about how great you are, what a good pundit you are, how you're always right, you're even deluded enough to imagine the new owners and Zola read this drivel - and why you were worried when first watching Cole after a injury lay off I have no idea - all players take a while to get the sharpness back - it's all to do with muscle memory and twitch responses
LOL I'm not serious about Sullivan and Gold reading this! That was a joke! I know about recovery times. I was just a bit worried given Cole has been such a confidence player in the past.
it is 2010
It is very unusual for a player to much such a transformation in such a short period of time. I thought Cole was rubbish just when everybody else did, because he was. There is no shame in admitting that.
But I'm not sure he was ever rubbish; he was young, impetuous and raw. I remember his impact in his first game for us against Charlton. The signs were there then that he had all the raw materials to be a bloody good player. His progress over the last 12 months has been incredible but I was calling him for England before that, based on his pace, strength and close control. Remember when he missed that chance when clean through at Stamford Bridge? The guys on the Org turned on him then, calling him a yard dog but I maintained that even Owen in his prime had opportunities like that saved. Instead of bitching about the miss, I said we should be drooling at the movement and strength demonstrated to get the chance in the first place. It was then that I said he would get more England caps than Ashton.
Become a moot point now that argument. Would he have got more if Ashton had not been crippled? Hard to say, I still maintain Ashton was a better player, finishing and holding the ball up were his strongest points plus he was deadly in the air. Carlton will no doubt get there if he continues to improve as he is but Ashton's was natural talent, added with hard graft I believe would have been the better player still. Makes no difference now. I only hope Carlton can go on to play for England and West Ham for many years to come.
Of course he was rubbish - the whole world thought he was rubbish - 3 years ago he was known as Carthorse Cole and couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo - his finishing was terrible!
I wish you'd stop going on and on about the .org let it go mate most of us never visited... and really EVERYONE thought he was pants in 2007 - except obviously you.
Well I'm glad our managers, particularly Zola, didn't think like that. But I guess they know what they're talking about.
But can he tackle like me?
Marco, I don't think you should compare your tackle with Carlton Cole's :)
What a load of Bollocks.
Cole's improvement since joining us has been quite staggering really, makes a change for us to improve a good player rather than selling good players and then seeing them turn world class at other teams.
You just have to look at his hold up play and the strength he now has, there was a classic moment in the Birmingham game when he had his back to a defender, chested it and got it under control. The defenders attempt to get Cole off balance was by jumping into him, seeing him rebound off Cole and land on his arse without affecting Cole at all was just genius.
His shooting can probably be improved but he is so much better than before, hope he stays clear of any further injuries.
West ham strikers better than cole :
cotte
macavennie
dean Ashton
PAULO DI CANIO
hartson
I'm sure there are loads more
that made me laugh
Only Hartson and Ashton of that lot were centre forwards as I've said above. Funny you don't mention Defoe if you are counting little strikers. Now what do Cole and Defoe have in common? Hang on, there must be something...what can it possibly be? I'm sure there must be something!
What Ashton never had was pace. Intelligent striker certainly but pace is a wonderful weapon for a striker. It is rare to find somebosy of Cole's physical stature with such a burst of speed.
M2C, my prediction was, in part, based upon Ashton's injury record. You will remember that I was saying a long time ago that he would never fully recover from the injury. I seem to remember either myself or Pete putting up a post saying he was made of porcelain. It is no good saying how great he would have been had he stayed fit. He was never 100% fit in his whole time at the club.
HF - Are you insinuating that the post above is racist because he only listed white strikers?
If so, why can't it just simply be that they are the strikers that he prefers? (which I would assume it is)
It's people like you that create race problems/divisions where they don't exist by winding up people with fictional/hypothetical problems.
Living in East London, I've seen it happen so many times and it can be a very dangerous game!
I am insinuating nothing mate, I will state it loud and clear: black players are measured by a different yardstick to white players by far too many West Ham fans. Cole or Ilunga should have been Hammer of the Year last season but many declined to vote for them on the basis of the colour of their skin. How can anybody genuinely think that Hartson was a better player than Carlton Cole? How can anybody list top West Ham strikers since the mid 1980s and leave out Defoe? Blind spot or black spot?
That's a lot subjective assumptions to make in one post. They're your opinions and I respect that but your casting a lot of aspersions on thousands of people that you've never even met.
I'm mixed race and neither Cole or Ilunga got my vote (and before you say it, I'm not racist either).
You really don't need to find such a negative reason for someone having a different opinion to you about the performance of a player over a season.
From what I've read on this site a lot of your readers disagree with your opinions on a regular basis but to call people racist for simply not having your viewpoint is out of order and provocative.
HF - How can you possibly believe that thousands of WH fans voted on their favourite player based on the colour of their skin? I'm sure that some might do but the vast majority??? Doesn't sound plausible to me.
It's exactly the type of stereotyping that you're using to pidgeon hole WH fans that racists use to justify their beliefs!
1814 Very well said mate but you won't get a reply from the plastic cock because he is wrong knows it but more he knows you are right. He is a belligerent insurgent, the type who stands and jeers at returning soldiers just to wind other people up these people are dangerous
I am not saying that everybody who voted for Parker is a racist. I am saying that some who voted for Parker will never vote for a black player. In a tight race, that factor was crucial. Not all West Ham fans are racist; the majority are not; sadly a significant minority are!
1902, I have written on this blog about my respect for our soldiers and carry a link for Help for Heroes - that shows how stupid your remarks are!
I agree that a significant number of our fans are racist. This is a fact. I have personally experienced it, in the stands, on more than one occasion in the last year. To deny it would be just plain wrong....in fact, you may as well join them.
Can't bekieve you have the gall to put this donkey in the same category as the great GH! Cole is lazy, incapable and about as sharp as a worn out lipstick. Get to the ground and watch a game live like we real fans fkn have to week in week out mate - and by that I don't mean at White Hart Lane (your obvious first choice venue for a home game) instead of spewing the crap you do. Geoff Hurst - ignore this tosser. Unlike CC you COULD play football.
Can't believe you have the gall to put this donkey in the same category as the great GH! Cole is lazy, incapable and about as sharp as a worn out lipstick. Get to the ground and watch a game live like we real fans fkn have to week in week out mate - and by that I don't mean at White Hart Lane (your obvious first choice venue for a home game) instead of spewing the crap you do. Geoff Hurst - ignore this tosser. Unlike CC you COULD play football.
Your stupidity is summed up by calling Cole lazy. He works his socks off every game. You might also notice that I term him our best striker SINCE Hurst, I do not say he is as good as Hurst do I? Of course, that went over your head. Pillock!
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