Reports have been circulating recently that West Ham won’t be renewing Joe Cole’s contract once his current run with the club comes to an end. But is that such a bad thing?
There is sadly not a lot of room for sentiment in football, and I think part of the reason people love Joe Cole is – like Carlton Cole – he loves the club as much as us fans do. I personally think this is clouding people’s opinions about how much of an asset he is to West Ham.
As a 10-year-old, I proudly wore my Joe Cole shirt to P.E every week and thought he was the best thing since sliced bread. But, that was 13 years ago and Cole has had his fair share of injuries in that time. He has looked tired out in a few games recently, but was obviously annoyed when taken off against Chelsea, storming straight down the tunnel. In fact, before the Arsenal game, Joey hadn’t played for a full 90 minutes since February 2013.
Back in November, Sam Allardyce said that Cole would have to prove his long term fitness to get a new deal with the club. He told Sky Sports:
“Joe’s concern is not picking up injuries. A proven period of time when the injuries do not reoccur is more what we are trying to look for and evaluate.
“At the end of the season we evaluate what the contribution of the players is – not just what he has done in the games he has played, but also how many games he has played.”
So far this season, Cole has made 13 Premier League appearances and has scored three goals. And when you consider our current plight, those goals were extremely important!
There are two sides of this for me. One is that we should let Cole go, both to ease the wage bill and because he’s past his best. We have quite a few attacking midfielders, with Ravel Morrison and Jack Collison being the obvious players to fill any gap left by Cole. Ricardo Vaz Te is also set to make his return soon, and has just signed a contract extension so is clearly in Allardyce’s plans for next season, and plays similarly to Cole.
Cole’s fitness (or lack of it) is a huge factor, as with all of our injuries it’s massively important to have players who can consistently play the full 90 minutes. At 32, Joe is getting on and won’t be getting any better.
However, we have got quite an injury prone winger in Stewart Downing and I think Cole would be better cover than Matt Taylor in this role. Joe could also be used quite well as a ‘super sub’ if his fitness levels mean he can’t play a full 90 minutes, as he is a proven goalscorer. Part of me also thinks it’s Kevin Nolan that should be going out of our midfield players! Wishful thinking…
Overall I think although he is a fan favourite and can score for us, his fitness is what is really letting him down, and perhaps it would be best to let him go. What do you think? Should we get rid of Cole for a second time, or hold on to him? Leave a comment or tweet me at @alwaysintune.
I’m sorry to say it but Joe Cole has been a shadow of his former self this year – it looks like his career is in terminal decline. Unfortunately, West Ham have to move on!
Joe May not be in his prime but you could never doubt his commitment to Hammers.
Even after his move to Chelsea the first result he always looked for was OURS(according to an interview done with frank lampard a few years ago.he will set up and score goals which is what we badly need.will Matt Taylor or the ever frustrating Nolan do the same job,I don’t think so.if for other reason cole should be kept to show the youngsters the WEST HAM WAY. COYI
Rather Joe Cole then Kevin Nolan any day of the week
West Ham need a complete new team, manager & owners. Cole is only a sideshow. It took Avram Grant 29 games to achieve his first back to back Premier League wins for West Ham United FC. Well if you think that was bad enough, well after 58 Premier League games in the charge of the Hammers, Sam Allardyce has not even achieved this. Maybe after 60 games? Maybe never? But whatever, stats like stringing a few wins together are the only thing that are going to save West Ham from the drop to the Championship. One the club’s reasons appears to be they are cash strapped, well what might just save them, is that this applies to a lot of clubs who are down at the bottom of the division. Fulham have recently been bought by a rich owner. Chelsea have had a rich owner for over a decade, but most clubs are grossly in debt, including even Man Utd. The game may even be in danger of dying out by drowning in debts making servicing a club impossible, but back to Sam’s predicament, for a man who is so highly rated not to be able to knock 2 wins together, well something is very wrong somewhere. I think it is the really the average standard of signings he has made, with the exception of Andy Carroll, but he’s been out injured for more time than he has played, when £15,000,000 could have been spent elsewhere! 1 win being 7 pts from the last 13 Premier League games = a pts ratio of 18%. Words can’t describe just how bad that is. If this lack of form continues then the end of the season and an exit from this league can’t come quick enough! After conceding 11 goals in 3 days days and being dumped out of 2 cups all West Ham season ticket holders, should be asking for a refund on the rest of the season. Words cannot describe how pathetic this team are. Even the under 21 team put in a better performance than what this lot did against Man City, when they played Forest on Sunday. I feel sorry for the people who have wasted their money and have bought tickets for the 2nd leg. Sam signs rubbish. He should not be there. Fans on this website are talking about attending the next home game against Newcastle only to take part in protest and then never going to another West Ham game again. I don’t blame them one bit. I wish them well & have a good strong protest, the club need a damned good shake up, and for West ham fans never to attend another game, well that is like turning our backs on football, as West Ham will always be our only team, and if the team can’t play football then stuff the game. Leave them all to it & let them all drown in their money. It really is that bad folks. This is not even a Championship team let alone a Premier League team. The 20th placed team being Sunderland are far better than West Ham. It could be curtains for the seaon after Saturday’s game against Cardiff. I’m sorry I even watched this game. I’m not wasting any more money on this lot. Putting food on the table is far more important. RIP West Ham!
As ignored by manager Sam Allardyce
Lge Cup semi v Man City play
3-5-2 formation please Sam.
Jääskeläinen, McCartney, Demel, Johnson, Jarvis, Morrison, Diame, Downing, J. Cole, Maiga, C. Cole
Subs; Adrián, Rat, Potts, O’Brien, Collison, Taylor, Diarra
Sam didn’t select Jääskeläinen who is better than Adrian, but even Jääskeläinen with the lack of cover that Adrian received, would not have been able to do anything behind a non existent defense. He didn’t select Jarvis & Morrison. No start for C. Cole i.e. No 2 striker start. He starts O’Brien, a former Bolton player who is f***ing useless and responsible for allowing 2 or 3 goals to get past the non existent defense. He plays Matt Taylor, another ex Bolton player who is also useless. Noble clearly wasn’t match fit & should not have started & Negredo, the man who snubbed West Ham’s efforts to sign, scores a hat trick against us. Reports state that Roger Johnson has been relegated for the last 3 seasons at the last 3 clubs he’s been at, that doesn’t bode well for us does it? And still Sam won’t walk. Sam had better hire an army of security guards for the Newcastle game at Upton Park as it looks like fans will stage WW3 in protest.
Man City 6 – West Ham 0: Hammered! But still Sam Allardyce won’t walk
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/359602/Man-City-6-West-Ham-0-Hammered-But-still-Sam-Allardyce-won-t-walk
Well it’s not a case of a must win game at Cardiff. It’s a case of if Sam & the team don’t come back to Upton Park for the Newcastle game with 3 points from Cardiff, there’s going to be an absolute riot. In fact I don’t think it would be a good game for kids to be at.