Ashley Cole: Best LB of Last 10 Yrs?

kamikaze

the thought's come to mind a few times lately. i know he's a dick, but with the advantage of hindsight, i hate him less. the arsenal board has proven the doubters right; they're not committed to winning. on the footballing front, he's so much better than clichy and absolutely dependable defensively and going forward. he's in his decline phase now, but at his prime, i don't think anyone could match his overall contribution from that position.

if we could've gone back in time and kept cole and never gotten gallas, how different could things have turned out? clichy wouldn't have given up the penner in the eduardo game, gallas wouldn't have moped about losing it then. cole was even seen as a possible future captain before he left.

Biggus

Useless cunt- missed a peno.

Burnwinter

Cole's been the best PL left back of the last 10 years, but I'm not sure we could've held onto him longer term, and I think his decorations as a player are mainly down to the extremely strong squad he's been surrounded by at Chelsea.

To be honest I think it's a bit pie in the sky to suggest we would've won the title in 07-08 if we'd had Cole.

Very good professional though, shame about his personality and off field nonsense.

Biggus

Let his team down when it counted, fuck him.

Mirth

I think so, but at various points over the past 10 years there have been left backs who have been better. He's just been consistent longer.

For instance, Marcelo has been the best left back around in the past few years.

Meatwad

don't know about all those alternate universe scenarios, but he definitely has been the best LB in the world the past 10 years.

Qwiss

Lagos wrote:
Things wouldn't have been any different Kami

We'd have never had Gallas. That would have been nice.

Anyway Coles had a good career full ups and downs. He's won plenty, earned plenty and spent the whole time embarrassing himself in the tabloids. He seems miserable to me and like every other one of these money grabbers he's still hurt we as fans hated him after he left.

Biggus

qs! wrote:
Lagos wrote:
Things wouldn't have been any different Kami

We'd have never had Gallas. That would have been nice.

Amen.

Klaus

There are a number of left-backs to pick and choose from. Guys like Maldini, Lizarazu, Javier Zanetti, Zambrotta and Lahm have played well in the last ten years. Carlos too, though I never rated him that highly. Gio was great for a while as well. Cole is definitely up there though. He's probably the most consistent one.

At any rate, fuck him. I hope he dies.

Rex

He will Klaus. He will.

Klaus

I meant soon. Like in taking a piss on an high-voltage wire. Or getting run over by a train. Or Lampard tripping in the dressing room and landing on him.

TambourineMan

Best left back I've ever seen play. Guys fantastic. Just a shame that he's such a vile little cunt.

Klaus

You've never seen Maldini?

squallkid

I still miss him and would take him back today.

Why the fuck didn't we just pay him what he wanted, we've been permanently shafted at lb since and chelsea got the best lb in the world.

Swapping him for gallas was the worst transfer we ever did.

All over a stupid 5 grand. I bet you by the end of his career clichy was earning more than what cole wanted.

YounGunner

He's won Chelsea trophies with crucial blocks, goal line clearances and defending. A vital cog in the Chelsea system.

We didn't really try hard enough to keep him. Wenger thought he was onto a masterstroke by promoting Clichy and bringing in a top class centerback in Gallas all for the price of one left back but that turned out to be disaster. We ended up partnering two midgets together at the back and a bottle job instead of a winner at left back. I'm convinced we would have won the title in 08 if we kept Cole and signed a commanding world class center back.

Ricky1985

Left backs don't win titles, but Cole, at his best, is as good as I've seen.

Him leaving is one of the biggest disappointments I've had following Arsenal. I think he would have gone on to be Arsenal captain, and would have gone down as an even better player than he will do.

Qwiss

He definitely regressed for a couple of years after he left. He's really got back on form the last couple of years but you'd have to wonder how good he'd have been had he stayed here and been playing his natural game all those years.

Burnwinter

kamikaze wrote:
if we could've gone back in time and kept cole and never gotten gallas, how different could things have turned out?

Dare say Cole would've accidentally shot and killed Wilshere with an air rifle on the training ground.

squallkid

So is he an Arsenal legend?

I'd say yes, regardless of what he's done at chelsea.

Part of the invincibles, came up through the academy and was amazing for us.

Patters

Being a club 'legend' isn't just about being a high-performing player for 5 years or so. The way he turned his back on the club means he can never be classed as an Arsenal legend.

But to answer the original question: Even if he's not the very best (I don't watch a lot of football outside England), he must be up there. Certainly the best in England - though the competition hasn't been too hot.