Ashley Cole v Ronaldo

When you think about great full backs and defenders he not one you automatically think about but he was a brilliant player, played at the top level and won a fair amount.

I also like him as a pundit, he’s a lot better than some of the ones that are doing it. When you listen to him he’s got loads of knowledge about the game and talks and picks up on things no other pundit does.
 
TheMarbleStaircase said:
When you think about great full backs and defenders he not one you automatically think about but he was a brilliant player, played at the top level and won a fair amount.

I also like him as a pundit, he’s a lot better than some of the ones that are doing it. When you listen to him he’s got loads of knowledge about the game and talks and picks up on things no other pundit does.
Click to expand...
But is he a better pundit than Clinton Morrison??
 
venturablue said:
As mentioned above he was a phenomenal player. The headlines around his move from Arsenal seem to take away how good a player he was at the time.
Click to expand...


Soon as the "£60,000 a week ? They're taking the piss Jonathan". I was so angry I almost crashed the car" quote from his book made the headlines he became the poster boy for the over indulged, arrogant, spoilt EPL player.

A shame because Cole was genuinely the best left back in the world at one point.
 
Could get into any starting 11 in the world during those years, for the majority of his career actually. An incredible defender.

He had Ronaldo in his back pocket every time they met.
 
OnTheWay said:
Could get into any starting 11 in the world during those years, for the majority of his career actually. An incredible defender.

He had Ronaldo in his back pocket every time they met.
Click to expand...

That's a bit of a myth tbh. Cole was unbelievable against Ronaldo but it wasn't like Ronaldo wasn't doing damage either. Just a great battle between two of the best in the world.

Cole is the best left back I've ever seen.

Godin vs Ronaldo was a superb duel that gets overlooked.
 
OnTheWay said:
Could get into any starting 11 in the world during those years, for the majority of his career actually. An incredible defender.

He had Ronaldo in his back pocket every time they met.
Click to expand...
Even Paul fecking Telfer had him in his back pocket at one point.

Anyway Cole was a brilliant player, world class. Bit of a fanny but then most players are now.
 
828909 said:
Never liked him and he comes across as an absolute c#%t at times, but he was a top class full back.
Click to expand...
I can’t stand Ashley Cole… for all that he was a good fullback, I felt he bombed forward and left gaps at the back at times.
Great tackler and competitor but comes across like an utter arse.

… imagine that, Ashley Cole leaving the rear exposed.
 
That was some tournament and he was some player.

The thing that hit me was how many of those perfectly good strong tackles would be given as fouls, and even possible bookings these days, because there is a follow through - the one in the box could even potentially be a pen.

The games gone.
 
RabSpackman said:
I can’t stand Ashley Cole… for all that he was a good fullback, I felt he bombed forward and left gaps at the back at times.
Great tackler and competitor but comes across like an utter arse.

… imagine that, Ashley Cole leaving the rear exposed.
Click to expand...

He really didn't, lol.

He was absolutely solid with a great final ball too.
 
prenzlauerbear said:
He really didn't, lol.

He was absolutely solid with a great final ball too.
Click to expand...
He did - maybe I just spotted it in a few games where he thought he could push on further because the opposition weren’t so good but as a park football fullback I thought he left gaps behind him.

He was a cracking player aside that though ;)
 
He was the one player in Englands “Golden Generation” who could actually claim he was the best in the world in his position.
The rest all had players above them in their positions.
 
El Chapo said:
Argument for Gerrard?
Click to expand...
Possibly, but for me he was more of a powerhouse.
Certainly a wonderful EPL player, but over periods throughout his career there were guys like Xavi, Iniesta, Pirlo, Deco, Kaka (I’m sure others will argue Scholes and Lampard over him) and probably a few others, but I just didn’t ever think of him as the best at any time.
Ashley Cole for a while was the best left back in the world.
 
Mearns Ranger said:
Possibly, but for me he was more of a powerhouse.
Certainly a wonderful EPL player, but over periods throughout his career there were guys like Xavi, Iniesta, Pirlo, Deco, Kaka (I’m sure others will argue Scholes and Lampard over him) and probably a few others, but I just didn’t ever think of him as the best at any time.
Ashley Cole for a while was the best left back in the world.
Click to expand...
Probably had more competition in the position he played. I’d say Iniesta was in a level of his own but SG was every bit as good or better than the rest.
 
El Chapo said:
Probably had more competition in the position he played. I’d say Iniesta was in a level of his own but SG was every bit as good or better than the rest.
Click to expand...
Xavi was the best of all of them.
He pissed all over Lampard, Gerrard and Scholes all by himself the night Wright Phillips got all the racial abuse. Gave the three of them an absolute lesson.
 
Just had a look at Balon dor winners/finalists there.
Modric, Zidane and Nedved, there’s another three who were in their times better than Gerrard in seasons throughout Gerrard’s career.
 
One of the extreme few in history who was the complete full back. Others had limitations but Cole seemed to have none.

Hilarious that Arsenal fans are still raging about him going to Chelsea despite the fact Cole went on to win every honour in the club game and Arsenal won … hee haw.
 
Pirlo said:
No chance. People on here wouldn’t even have him ahead of Lampard until he became our manager.
Click to expand...
Gerrard was levels above Lampard.

Only the Chelsea fans on here would have said different.

There was a 3/4 year period when Liverpool were over achieving in the CL with a pretty average team that Gerrard was up there with the very best in the world.

He was puting in individual performances that no other midfielder in the world at that time was capable of in my opinion.
 
RabSpackman said:
He did - maybe I just spotted it in a few games where he thought he could push on further because the opposition weren’t so good but as a park football fullback I thought he left gaps behind him.

He was a cracking player aside that though ;)
Click to expand...
Got roasted by muller at world Cup 2010.
 
Got to agree Cole was vastly underrated by many,it was later on that you realised boy he had it all.Great tackle,passing, movement .
 
English commentators and pundits have a tendency to overrate players. That can’t be applied to Ashley Cole. He was phenomenal .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Latest posts

Back
Top