Andy Cole - premier league hall of famer

[Sandikan]

Cole played with the best team in the country. Shearer did not

He didn't, bar the season Blackburn won the year.
But between Blackburn and Newcastle they had some title attempts and both teams were totally based around his strengths.

United never were with Cole, not like Newcastle were when they had him.

 

[devilish]

He didn't, bar the season Blackburn won the year.
But between Blackburn and Newcastle they had some title attempts and both teams were totally based around his strengths.

United never were with Cole, not like Newcastle were when they had him.

Previously United were built around Cantona and after Cole left they certainly built a team around first RVN and then Ronaldo. Have you ever wondered why?

I like Cole. He was an excellent forward and the prototype of the modern striker ie a guy who was good in everything (pace, workrate, a decent eye for goal etc) but didn't really excel in anything. But he was a notch down to the likes of Shearer, Batistuta and RVN, all of whom were players SAF either replaced Cole with or at least tried.

 

[Sandikan]

Previously United were built around Cantona and after Cole left they certainly built a team around first RVN and then Ronaldo. Have you ever wondered why?

I like Cole. He was an excellent forward and the prototype of the modern striker ie a guy who was good in everything (pace, workrate, a decent eye for goal etc) but didn't really excel in anything. But he was a notch down to the likes of Shearer, Batistuta and RVN, all of whom were players SAF either replaced Cole with or at least tried.

Yes I wouldn't even dare to try and argue differently to your last post.
RVN came in and scored way more goals. Although it does have to be remembered he was basically a lone frontman and Cole always played in a 2.

I don't necessarily agree that we'd have won more with Shearer though. We already won most of the domestic stuff and you always needed everything to go right in Europe. In an era of properly good opponents.

 

[devilish]

Yes I wouldn't even dare to try and argue differently to your last post.
RVN came in and scored way more goals. Although it does have to be remembered he was basically a lone frontman and Cole always played in a 2.

I don't necessarily agree that we'd have won more with Shearer though. We already won most of the domestic stuff and you always needed everything to go right in Europe. In an era of properly good opponents.

Cole was an excellent player but Shearer was a beast, at par, to batistuta. I dare to say that he was even better then RVN as he possessed his eye for goal but he could also drop deep and help out.

Regarding trophies, well, a Shearer would probably score against Dortmund in that CL semi final. Once that was in the bag then we would have gone face to face against an excellent juventus whose renowned in bottling CL finals

 

[Bobski]

Previously United were built around Cantona and after Cole left they certainly built a team around first RVN and then Ronaldo. Have you ever wondered why?

I like Cole. He was an excellent forward and the prototype of the modern striker ie a guy who was good in everything (pace, workrate, a decent eye for goal etc) but didn't really excel in anything. But he was a notch down to the likes of Shearer, Batistuta and RVN, all of whom were players SAF either replaced Cole with or at least tried.

This is true but it is one of the odd things about football that having a great goalscorer as the focal point doesn't always make the team better. Utd at the time were all about the variation in attack, goals and creativity coming from everywhere, and Cole was a huge part of that, could drop into and be more effective in different spaces than those huge names, formed excellent partnerships with pretty much every forward he played with other than Cantona and had an unselfish, team first mentality.

Shearer and Batistuta come in and suddenly a large portion of the attacks are funneled towards them, the team becomes more predictable, we saw this gradually with RVN, and yes there were other elements in play, start of transition, in make up of the team and guys like Giggs and Scholes changing their game but a more rounded attack is always the better option in my opinion. What Shearer and co would give is match winning moments in big games but I am far from certain that the team would have been better or scored more goals over a season.

Building around guys like Cantona and Ronnie is a different thing to Shearer/Batistuta and RVN, the first 2 offered much more than goals alone.

 

[Sandikan]

This is true but it is one of the odd things about football that having a great goalscorer as the focal point doesn't always make the team better. Utd at the time were all about the variation in attack, goals and creativity coming from everywhere, and Cole was a huge part of that, could drop into and be more effective in different spaces than those huge names, formed excellent partnerships with pretty much every forward he played with other than Cantona and had an unselfish, team first mentality.

Shearer and Batistuta come in and suddenly a large portion of the attacks are funneled towards them, the team becomes more predictable, we saw this gradually with RVN, and yes there were other elements in play, start of transition, in make up of the team and guys like Giggs and Scholes changing their game but a more rounded attack is always the better option in my opinion. What Shearer and co would give is match winning moments in big games but I am far from certain that the team would have been better or scored more goals over a season.

Building around guys like Cantona and Ronnie is a different thing to Shearer/Batistuta and RVN, the first 2 offered much more than goals alone.

Good point.
It's too simplistic to say we'd have won more with Shearer. There's every chance we actually wouldn't have won the treble we did, as there were so many butterfly effect moments in that run as it was, so a major change like Shearer would have meant at least one of Cole or Solskjaer weren't around. We may not have bought Yorke either who was a huge part of that season.

I see Shearer as a ahh yeah it would have been nice.
But players like Hazard and Robben are more of a miss for me as we had way inferior players than them starting in those positions afterwards.

 

[Cole9]

I noticed that I’m on 999 posts and thought what better way to bring up the 1,000 (only took me 16 years!) than to post a Cole compilation.

Watching this again reminds me just how great he was.

 

[daveskimufc]

I remember being amazed at how much he moves when he doesn't have the ball. Went to a match around 2000 and him and giggsy would just keep swapping position all games, ran the defence ragged.

 

[DOTA]

Very clever player.

 

[caid]

I noticed that I’m on 999 posts and thought what better way to bring up the 1,000 (only took me 16 years!) than to post a Cole compilation.

Watching this again reminds me just how great he was.

The variety of finishes is pretty crazy. I'd say it'd be a bit of a nightmare to try and predict what he was going to do.

 

[Pughnichi]

He was brilliant in the 99 season. But watching the video…he appears to be individually on another level 99/00 with some absolute bangers that season

Just checked…yep

In the league
99 17 in 32
00 19 in 28

 

[Andycoleno9]

Finishing, heading, left foot, right foot, pace, technique, great sense for positioning in penalty box .....100 mil striker these days.

 

[Utd heap]

Finishing, heading, left foot, right foot, pace, technique, great sense for positioning in penalty box .....100 mil striker these days.

Interesting take Andycoleno9

 

[Andycoleno9]

The variety of finishes is pretty crazy. I'd say it'd be a bit of a nightmare to try and predict what he was going to do.

Only one thing repeats often; bottom corner of the net.
When you look all his goals it is pretty impressive how many times he managed to hit the ball in bottom corner.

 

[Denis79]

Well deserved!

I remember how happy I was when we bought him, fantastic footballer.

 

[RoyH1]

I noticed that I’m on 999 posts and thought what better way to bring up the 1,000 (only took me 16 years!) than to post a Cole compilation.

Watching this again reminds me just how great he was.

One of the most underrated players ever to put on a United shirt

 

[Born2Lose]

Great memories, remember going mental at OT when he got his first goal for us after a bit of a wait. That game against Coventry where he got the second and the winner was also a highlight in his early time at the club.