The Joe Cole Conundrum

Article by e-West Ham Correspondent Brandon Freeman

Follow e-West Ham on Twitter here!

Want to write for e-West Ham? Contact e-football@live.co.uk

In January 2012 Joe Cole returned to West Ham after nine years away from East London. From the moment the news broke I felt a sense of excitement that I had never felt about a West Ham signing, because arguably one of our finest academy products had returned home. My excitement was such that as soon as it was announced that Cole would be wearing the number 26 shirt that he left behind when he made the £6.6m pounds move to Chelsea, I immediately purchased one from the West Ham store and couldn’t wait to see his home-coming versus Manchester United. Although Cole certainly didn’t disappoint, laying on two goals for James Collins, I can’t help but feel that he hasn’t kicked on from that night. But can we really blame Joe Cole?

Although I have always admired Big Sam for being able to get the best out of ageing players, as he did at Bolton, and as we all hoped he would do with Cole, it seems this time he hasn’t been able to. Following an interview with BBC sport in January 2012 Big Sam was certain that Cole could still add something to West Ham saying: "Joe's main strength is opening teams up and we'll give him the ball and tell him to go and do that for us" While there have been flashes of this ability since he has returned, Joe has only managed 24 appearances since his return, scoring 5 goals. Although injury has thwarted Cole’s progress, having spent 6 weeks on the sidelines this season following a hamstring tear, I think Big Sam has played a part in Cole not quite having the impact we all hoped he would.

Sam has insisted on continuously playing Joe Cole out wide, looking for him to supply the ammunition for our strikers; however I can’t help but feel that Joe’s best position throughout his career has been as an attacking midfielder which perhaps explains why his impact has been rather minimal. Unfortunately with Nolan being in fantastic form at the moment I don’t believe that Big Sam would replace him with Cole, especially given Nolan’s impressive partnership with Andy Carroll.

Rumours have continuously circulated that Joe will be allowed to leave at the end of the season when his contract expires, with Fulham and QPR being touted as potential destinations, I really would be sad to see Cole leave as I believe he still has plenty left in the tank and players who know what it means to play for a team like West Ham and play their socks off for the shirt are hard to come by.

Do you still believe that King Cole has a place in West Ham’s team or do you believe time has finally caught up with our cult-hero?

© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football