[font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif][size=small]The chances are you might not know a great deal about Cristian Raimondi, but it is a nice line in self-deprecating humour that he calls himself CR77. Raimondi has had what they know in Italy as a pacco postale career, going from club to club like a game of pass the parcel before returning to Atalanta and, at the age of 31, scoring his first goal in Serie A.[/size][/font]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]He is 34 now and a right-back by trade. But then he was asked to experiment as a winger when Atalanta took on Roma last season and Il Messaggero summed up rather neatly what happened next. âFor one afternoon,â it observed, âthe modest Raimondi became Cristiano Ronaldoâs older brother.â[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]His opponent that day was Ashley Cole â three Premier League titles, seven FA Cups, one Champions League and 107 international caps â and the player many consider to be the finest English left-back there has been was subjected to the kind of ordeal that made it tempting to wonder if the same panicking thoughts flashed through his mind as Gary Neville experienced for Manchester United at West Bromwich Albion on New Yearâs Day 2011. Nevilleâs decision to retire was made on a toilet at halfâtime, trying to work out how he had just made âJerome Thomas look like Ronaldoâ.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]Raimondiâs first nutmeg came after 54 seconds. Maxi Moralez scored from the cross and Cole was given such a chasing for the rest of the match it felt like a trick of the mind to remember that when it came to the real Ronaldo there was once a time this was the only left-back you would consistently back to get the better of him.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]A month earlier, Bayern Munich left their calling card at the Stadio Olimpico and Cole was taken off at half-time with the score at 5-0. It finished 7-1, Romaâs worst home defeat since an equally heavy beating by Torino in 1947. La Repubblicaâs verdict was that Cole had been âmassacredâ by Arjen Robben. Gazzetta dello Sportgave him three out of 10 and Il Messaggero accused Cole of letting Robben âplay cat and mouse with himâ. But at least Roma were confronted by one of Europeâs genuine superpowers. Atalanta, on the other hand, finished 17th last season. âIf itâs Robben who knocks you out, youâve got an excuse,â Corriere della Sera said. âIf Raimondi is the one to do it, youâve got a problem. A serious problem.â[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]Cole was excluded completely when Roma began the new season at Verona on Saturday night, not even warranting a place among the 12 substitutes. Nobody should expect him to feature in Rudi GarcĂaâs 25-man squad for the Champions League and, while all the focus has been on John Terryâs durability over the past week, it is Cole, the younger man by 13 days, whose career probably deserves our epitaphs.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]It happens to them all at some point. They tell themselves they will quit when they start to slide and then one day they wake up and they realise they already slid. âAge,â Wilfrid Diamond wrote in This Guy Marciano, âis a mighty important subject for a champion, because it is the only opponent he canât lick.â[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]Very often, it is others who see it first judging by the story Roy Keane tells of the day he broached the subject of retirement with the Celtic manager, Gordon Strachan. Keaneâs hip had been distressing him for longer than he wanted to remember. Waking up, his joints sounded like popcorn. Strachan agreed without a momentâs hesitation that it was for the best and that, for Keane, was that. âAnd I was saying to myself: âTry to persuade me. At least pretend.ââ[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]Terry is not immune to the same processes and he has been putting his body on the line for so long now it is a surprise that he has lasted to this age, a few months shy of his 35th birthday, without coming under the kind of sustained scrutiny he has had to endure recently.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]As it is, let us not forget the Chelsea captain would have been a worthy recipient of last seasonâs player-of-the-year awards. The decline can be quick in football but, generally, players donât lose it that rapidly and it has certainly been intriguing to see the difference in the way Terryâs ordeal against Manchester Citylast Sunday was reported compared to what happened to Michael Carrick, a player of the same age, during Manchester Unitedâs Champions League qualifieragainst Club Brugge.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]Carrick scored an inelegant own goal and played with uncharacteristic carelessness before being substituted at half-time. He was dropped for Saturdayâs goalless draw against Newcastle United but, as yet, there has been absolutely zero focus on whether he has, in the parlance of the game, shot it. Louis van Gaal was not asked about it either at Fridayâs press conference or directly after the match.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]The truth is straightforward: both players are now at the juncture of their careers where it is unreasonable to expect them to go through the grind of playing every week in a league where there is Prozone data showing the speed has gone up 20% in five years. That, however, doesnât necessarily have to be a scary thought if it is handled sensibly, without some of the snap judgments we have seen over the past week.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]It was one of the areas where Sir Alex Ferguson excelled and Neville, one of the players who reaped the benefits, called it perfectly when he argued that Liverpool ought to have done the same with Steven Gerrard rather than moving out all that experience and presence. Liverpool play at Arsenal on Monday and their new captain, Jordan Henderson, is likely to miss the match through injury. When the other players look around the dressing room beforehand one imagines they would all feel rather more assured if Gerrard was among their number, no matter his diminished powers.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]In Coleâs case, the process has been much more jarring. Roma have pulled down the shutters and it would be no surprise if we hear in the next few weeks that an agreement has been made to settle the rest of his contract. Cole would then be free to go travelling and take himself away from the sport after talking recently about the way he had âbeen to so many beautiful countries and never got the chance to see themâ. Or maybe he could join the semi-retirement home of Major League Soccer, and become the third member of Englandâs 100 Club, beside Gerrard and Frank Lampard, to have one last hurrah.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]No doubt his time in Rome will be cited as another example of English players being unable to acclimatise outside their own country, the old Ian Rush quote about it being âlike living in a foreign countryâ, and all that.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]Tot up the number of overseas players in English football who struggle to fit in, collect their money and then disappear and my guess is you will quickly lose count. It just tends to get noticed more when it is an Englishman abroad because there are fewer of them who have the gumption to try it.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]Cole has embraced Italian life and at least he gave it a go, but GarcĂa lost trust in him last season, just as JosĂ© Mourinho did the year before that at Chelsea, and his position was not helped when a slack backpass let in Manchester City to score during their pre-season fixture in Melbourne. He has started four games since getting the runaround from Raimondi and the difficult truth is that Coleâs time with Roma will probably be best remembered for the awkwardness of a team photograph when he can be seen standing apart from the rest of his colleagues, separated from the group and wearing the body language of someone unsure whether he should join in.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]Francesco Totti adopted the same pose in the follow-up photos. In pre-season it was Radja Nainggolanâs turn to stand on the outside. They are laughing with Cole, rather than at him. Yet there will be soon be a time when Cole is not in the picture at all and Roma are shot of the player Corriere della Sera has condemned for âunbearable lightnessâ.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]If this is the end, it has been a sorry way to go but it is difficult to take issue with the verdict of Mimmo Ferretti, one of Romeâs leading football writers. âWhoever thought Chelsea were drunk out of their minds for letting Cole go for no money must now say a lunghissimo mea culpa,â he wrote.[/font][/size]
