I have had to bite my lip on plenty of occasions this season and especially in the past few weeks over the contribution of West Ham’s big number nine. In January, Sam Allardyce bought Nicky Maynard and Ricardo Vaz Te to bolster the Hammers attacking options however with one sitting on the bench and the other injured early on in the first half against Doncaster, was it any surprise we didn’t get another goal?
Again, it’s no coincidence that West Ham’s best two performances and results in the past month or so have come when Carlton Cole has been a substitute. Allardyce has played Maynard with Vaz Te and they caused opposition defences all sorts of problems that resulted in wins at Blackpool and Cardiff. Cole has started the last two home games and he has made little or no impact at all for 180 minutes against average defences.
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For a man of his size and power, Cole shouldn’t; but has been; bullied out of games throughout this campaign which is so frustrating to watch. The former England international is still yet to hit ten league goals this season, which is not good enough considering he believes he is Premier League striker. Compare that to the Hammers promotion rivals Southampton, who have three players in double figures already this season including their very own Carlton Cole, Rickie Lambert who is now on 25 goals. I am not sure if West Ham fans are being fooled by the occasion run towards the ball by the unenergetic striker, but he is often found sulking on the half way line after losing yet another aerial challenge or overrunning a simple dribble forward. Fair enough, he is clearly not that good in the air for his height, but we continue to lump it towards him, something that would change if Maynard was up there? Maynard has scored the same amount of goals this season as Cole, but yet he has played the majority of the season in a team that create very little and lost week in week out at the start of the season. Looking for experience? Just want to be heard outside of the Boleyn? We are currently looking for writers, drop us an email at foreverwestham@snack-media.com for more details Mr Allardyce was happy to let Cole go in the summer after the club accepted a ludicrous £7million+ bid from Stoke City, but Cole decided he didn’t want a move to the Premier League as City refused to match his wage demands. A lack of ambition or is it dedication to the cause at Upton Park? Either way it has been bad news for West Ham. Think of what Mr Gold and Sullivan could have done with that money? A certain Jordan Rhodes has scored 32 goals this season? But we can’t sit and think about what ifs?
One thing that really does frustrate me about the Cole situation is the amount of stick Freddie Piquionne has got from the Hammers fans. Does Cole put much more effort in than Piq? Is he any better in the air? Both questions have the same answer for me and I hope Big Sam sees that other options are better options for us as we travel to an expensive Leeds next week in what has become a must win game.
Disagree? Does Cole deserve to stay in the team? Let me know on Twitter: @Brad_Pinard
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I can’t blame Carlton for ‘sulking on the half way line after losing yet another aerial challenge’ when he gets penalised for just about every challenge he makes.
And he’s not the right type of centre-forward to have the ball lumped up to him, he needs it to feet where he can turn or out-muscle a centre-back or lay it off, either that or over the top/into a channel for him to run on to. Then he can score goals like these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZVNjFH1B4w
Cole was consistently beaten in the air by Adrian Mariappa against Watford. Mariappa is about 5 inches shorter than Cole. Cole gives us little on the deck so the least we can expect is for him to win his aerial battles. He cannot even do that. He does not score enough goals – even in this division. He got no change out of the Doncaster centre back on Saturday either. He does not fool me. Not good enough I am afraid
In fairness to Carlton Cole, he is capable of some outstanding performances. We’ve witness them. ..He IS great on the ball and is strong as an ox and can take on the best defences in the world – if he’s on form!! We’ve got to realize this. And I would give him the benefit of the doubt over his reasons for staying with west ham in the summer. I truly believe he loves the club and wants to do well for the club. … In the performances i have seen lately, I think he is lacking confidence and motivation. And from Big Sam’s statements about our attack and about Lambert, you can perhaps understand why. … I also think Carlton has another problem, and that’s lack of ambition. I’ve heard him say he set’s himself like a goal a game target (I can’t remember the words exactly). But he certainly doesnt sound like someone who wants to score 1, then 2, then 3, then 4. He’s missing that extra hunger! I’ve seen him play well, score and then switch off. As though he’s happy, and he can go back to plodding speed. … I saw Maynard play with hunger against Cardiff. He was unlucky that day, But that’s the reason I’d put Maynard in instead of Carlton. … Doesn’t mean to say we should sell Carlton tomorrow and forget about him. It means the coaches/carlton should work on a) confidence b) motivation and c) ambition. Then we’ll see him at his best more often. And we’ll all be winners.
I just don’t understand why Allerdyce has not realised that booting it up the field to Cole is not the best option. Agreeing with Mel Cole should be getting the ball to the point where he can lay off the ball for someone like Maynard. He just can’t do much in the air when bringing it down to conrtol or laying it off. That being said Allerdyce really needs to experiment more upfront than having Cole play game in game out, why can’t we have Baldock and Maynard upfront?
… also like to add that west ham have played with a lone striker in far too games (/seasons) and this makes life very difficult for the said striker (be it cole, piquionne, carew). when the ball comes to head who do you head it to? when it comes to feet if you turn you find a wall of defenders. youre only option is play it back. … we have also had a lack of (as the italians call it) a “fantasista”, someone CREATIVE. in the real sense of the word.
spot on. thats the biggest problem, lack of creativity. carlton is not at fault for our recent poor results, there is a fundamental problem.
We seem to find to always fail with proven goal scorers. Every striker we sign seems to be prolific when not with us. Tells you Sam is setting things up wrong perhaps?
I don’t understand why we continue to blame players openly, on sites they read and then expect them to be full of confidence
Cole works hard but has little support to maximise his efforts- if you keep pumping a ball to his head and then expect him to hold it up you mad- we simply seem intent on playing a 4-5-1 formation with midfielders that in honesty don’t get forward enough- Nolan is great from deep but that does not help Cole flicking a ball on does it. Reverting to a 3-5-2 for home games allows us to force opposition defences back and Cole to have a chance- most games tend to be ball up the middle, Cole against two defenders and no one running off him- operating with 3 centre backs and a holding midfielder still means we can play faubert/ Taylor wide and Nolan and Noble in the centre pushing on with Maynard and Cole up front. we must go back to ball to feet and use the width – this is simple boys football yet we seem reluctant to adopt it. for me Collinson, Noble and Nolan are all too similar and playing together makes our shape to narrow
Best games for me have been where Tomkins played behind Noble but not part of the back line.
lets be fair he is a striker and has he stricken, you all know the answer to this.
How can anyone defend this man . Slow , clumsy and as potent as a sherbert dab . He might score a few at the Orient …certainly not Premier league