Carlton Cole has made his return to the green grass of Upton Park- well, sort of. He warmed up next to it on Saturday. He got a wonderful reception from the home fans, but with the current form of Ricardo Vaz Te and the rumoured progress back to fitness of the golden-egg laying goose that is Andy Carroll, was that the closest Cole will come to setting foot on the hallowed turf of Upton Park?
I was never Carlton’s biggest fan during his first stint at the club, but I certainly am pleased to have him make a return to a club he cares for. I didn’t hold his playing ability in the highest esteem but the one good thing about Modibo Maiga is that he can make even Carlton Cole look like a world class striker by comparison.
We know he can score goals on occasion, so I was excited to see him warming up on Saturday. Judging from the singing from the stands, others were happy to see him as well. It was disappointing not to see him come on instead of Mladen Petric late in the Manchester City game. It would have been a good game to give him a 15 minute run out, just to see what he could bring back to the team.
Admittedly, he may not be quite match-fit. But there is also the possibility he’s on the team purely to make up numbers in case of emergency. When we re-signed him, I don’t think anyone had expected Ricardo Vaz Te to have stepped up his game so drastically, and with the return of Carroll now on the horizon (reportedly only 4 games away), I’m wondering if Cole is yet again going to find himself surplus to requirements at Upton Park.
We still have games against Swansea City, Burnley, Aston Villa (and maybe Norwich City) to go until the return of the prodigal son, so there still is ample time for him to play a part in this season. However, I can’t help but think that in that time he’ll have to pull off a minor miracle on the pitch in order to remain part of the squad.
After all, is Andy Carroll going to have to put in extra work to dislodge Cole from the starting eleven? In a word: no.
What do you think- will we actually see Carlton take to the pitch again? Is he just making up numbers? Let me know below or tweet me @makingthemarrow
carlton cole is the poorest excuse for a striker… he is a complete waste
Can’t see Carlton getting much game time unless he suddenly does what he has seldom done and find the net.petric and vaz te most certainly ahead of him.
We should never have re signed Cole, he has to be one of the poorest excuses for a striker there is, Modibo Maiga could have no arms or legs, nothing can make Cole look world class,
he has the ball control of a bouncy castle,
we should have put some youngster’s in the squad, at least the experience would have done them no harm,
COYI
i disagree,Carlton always plays his heart out,ok, not alot of goals,but he was left up front alot with no help,it’s hard to keep a ball when there’s three defenders attacking you all the time. coyi
Bit scary that this is all Sam can put up Cole is not match and Carroll no better
The same predictable Cole critics – no-one would claim he is world class but top scorer for 4 seasons makes some of the inane comments above redundant – played too often on his own up front and with support often yards away he was never used properly by Grant or BFS – Zola at least understood how to play him. And as for Vaz Te “stepping up his game drastically”??? – you have to be kidding – a lucky rebound v Spurs and yes, a nice overhead v City – but the rest of the time, halfhearted, indeed lazy, feigning injury, no concept of shutting anyone down, same old Championship level that he always was. Far too much weight is being put on the return of Carroll – even if he can get and stay fit – at least CC will give his all as a back up and hopefully shut up idiots like Saboteur and Jay
Just gonna pen a response, read John Pritchards, and he has said exactly what I was going to. Why don’t people lay off of a guy who has done his best when called upon, taken a bloody pay cut, and jumped at the chance to come back and help us out ???? I dont care whoever we play up front…if they are stuck there alone with the likes of Nolan for “support” (????) they have no chance of making inroads into a four man defence. Its just a case of battle for the ball and see where it drops, and until BFS changes things, that’s how it will stay.
For as long as he is back with us, is it too much to ask that we actually give this West Ham player our support ??