[quote author=Modo link=topic=41516.msg1335035#msg1335035 date=1305683580]
[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=41516.msg1335025#msg1335025 date=1305680589]
[quote author=Modo link=topic=41516.msg1335020#msg1335020 date=1305679076]
[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=41516.msg1335006#msg1335006 date=1305676131]
[quote author=Modo link=topic=41516.msg1330874#msg1330874 date=1305094409]
[quote author=Squiggles link=topic=41516.msg1330866#msg1330866 date=1305079318]
He picked up all of his injuries in Italy so it could just have easily happened over there.
I believe the biggest reason was we couldn't afford or weren't willing to pay his £80,000k a week salary, but the fact that we weren't at all well stocked in the CM department last summer should have outweighed this.
We're hardly missing him now, but he could have been useful this season and well worth his wages. The whole thing was a bit weird.
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Yeah we couldn't afford to pay Aquilani, but we could definitely afford Cole. What a joke.
The biggest joke, though is that there's still members on this site who wants to give him (Cole) a fresh start next season. What is it you people see in him?
Aquilani did more in his injury plagued season here than Cole has.
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I don't like your fucking tone to be honest Modokay, being of that opinion myself.
The point is Cole got off to a shitty start getting a ban, he then came back after that catching up with fitness, partly due to the fact he did not have a full pre-season either, because of an existing injury when we signed him, and did not play his first game until well into August.
More or less as soon as he got a chance and came back he got injured again. So has consequently been a bit-part player that was always well off match fitness - that's fucking why I would like to give him a chance, anyone that thinks what they have seen of Joe Cole this season to think they could objectively judge him on must be a bit thick.
Just for the record , I would have Aquilani back in a flash, I saw enough of him to know there is a good player in there.
I am not sure if Cole will actually get the chance next season, or not to show what he can do, I hope he does, I would be amazed if Aqualiani came back , but stranger things have happened
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No regards?
Anyway...
I'm all for giving a fair chance to players who've just joined but here's where Cole deviates.
1. He's got tons of premiership experience
2. He's 29 years old
3. He's being paid around £90 000 a week!
That tells me that he should have an immediate impact in our team.
You bring up the fact that Cole was injured when he joined and didn't get a decent pre-season. That's pretty much similar to Aquilani who despite an injury plagued season and rarely being picked, came into the team and contributed, almost instantly. Cole hasn't.
Believe me I was extremely excited when he joined and I hoped to see some of the "magic" he's been able to produce earlier in his career but I'm still waiting.
He's made 30 appearances (15 as a sub), and he's only got 3 goals and 1 assist to show for it.
I don't know if I'm being unfair when I'm comparing him to Aquilani but IMO and let me reiterate IN MY OPINION (I don't have any fact to back this up), Hodgson let Aquilani go so that Cole would get his spot in the starting XI. That's the main reason why I'm using Aquilani as a reference.
Aquilani's made 25 appearances (13 sub), and he got 2 goals and 6 assists.
I hope this explains my "tone".
Maybe I'm overreacting regarding Cole, but at the start of the season I regarded him as a key player for us, something he hasn't even come close to living up to.
I guess I'm just expressing my dissatisfaction with his performances this season in a "cuntish" kind of way.
regards
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No it does not explain your tone at all, other than the fact your argument is nonsensical, it's not about your opinions on the player at all, its your rather surprising disrespect for other peoples (reasonable) opinion referring to them as the biggest joke.
"The biggest joke, though is that there's still members on this site who wants to give him (Cole) a fresh start next season. What is it you people see in him?"
Your comparisons with Aqualani are rather selective,and really rather poor anyway as Aqualani made 28 appearances and got two goals, I would suggest that quite comparable.
The money that we pay him is incidental he was free so you pay a premium in wages, that's the way it works.
I am prepared to give Cole another chance on a pretty wretched season, just as I was with Aqualani. If you are not fine that's your prerogative, but don't fucking get smart.
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I'm trying to be civil about this and engage in a well mannered discussion with you because I respect your opinion. So please cool down your temper.
First of all I haven't labelled those supporting Cole a "joke" it's more or less the wide-eyed, forgiving stance members of this forum have despite his performances.
I strongly think that Cole hasn't done enough to stay and be a part of next seasons squad and I've presented my reasons. I could have gone in depth and described his playing-style etc but I think aforementioned reasons are enough.
I also object to you calling my comparison with Aquilani selective. I can't see how it is considering my view that Cole was his direct replacement.
The stats I got were from ESPN - soccernet and I don't think I got it wrong.
The fact that Cole was free doesn't hold up either IMO, because he's still on high wages and my reasons for pointing that out is that the club can spend those wages on another player. My first post was about the story that Aquilani was loaned out so we could pay Cole's wages.
Anyway that's all I have to say about the matter. I'm keeping the same stance here.
We could agree to disagree or whatever.
[/quote] You have been selective as you have chosen to make comparisons by quoting Coles poor games / goals ratio, when in fact Aqualani is no better and in fact a little worse. The wages do matter . Cole could quite reasonably expect a wage of around half of his inflated one, which means over a three year contract he would have cost us £6m on extra wages which is a good deal on a fully fit player, Aqualani by comparison cost us £18m . I think if you are happy to give one the benefit of a second chance it is not unreasonable to do it for both.
