Joe Cole hopes for Chelsea central role

[the wes 7,212]

Joe Cole hopes he can play centrally in Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti's system.

The midfielder said: “I was in the middle and it suits me down to theground. It helped me a lot playing in that system because you can playthe game at your own pace.

“Things come naturally to me there rather than playing as a winger and being expected to run past people.

“To captain Chelseais just unbelievable. I was a ballboy here and am a fan. I know it wasthe Carling Cup but this was one of the biggest games of my career.”

tribalfootball.com

[Kez 2,727]

Legend. So glad to see him back, how are we going to fit Lampard Essien and Joe cole in the centre though?

Edited September 24, 2009 by Kez

[Badboy 1,526]

Mikel holding lamps and essien midfield joe cole at the tip ?

[carefreeluke 27]

Mikel holding lamps and essien midfield joe cole at the tip ?

Could work.

I believe J. Cole's best postion is at the top of the diamond. Probably would do a better job than Lampard is doing so far in that position in my opinion.

[Kez 2,727]

.................J.COLE

Lampard ...............Essien

...................Mikel

??

Edited September 24, 2009 by Kez

[zolayes 14,489]

ballack maloude ..deco ,,,zhirkov .. nice back up midfield

[bombayblue™ 55]

A diamond of Joey, Lamps, Ballack/Malouda and Essien would work better than Mikel instead of Ballack..

[Kez 2,727]

Or Zhirkov on the left and lamps on the right and Essien in place of Mikel

[warnie_666 1,081]

Joe Cole sure to play in the Hole and Lampard will take up the RCM. He looked uncomfortable in the hole we should see more goals from Frank now. Left would be Zirkov/Malouda and Holding would be Essien. Ballack, Deco, Mikel and one of Malouda/Zirkov with Belleti to be the backup.

[Term-X 7,891]

here we go again!

just like with scolari, players walking all over the manager.

this all looks innocent to the average person but the managers must not be influenced, and told how to pick the team by players with big egos.

[Alee. 182]

..............Essien............

Lampard.........,.Zhirkov

..............Cole................

Back-Up:

.............Mikel................

Ballack.............Malouda

.............Deco................

[diskoviolente 425]

to be honest i think joey is better playing on the wings.

he never looked like central midfielder to me... although this top of the diamond deal might suit him a type of third deep laying striker. better than lamps in any case.

but it is still amazing how good lamps is playing in that position even tho it is clearly not his favourite one

[the wes 7,212]

Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole has thanked fans for the way they've welcomed him back this week.

He told TalkSport: “The reception I got was fantastic. I know Chelseafans always do well when players come back from injuries and givingreceptions but I wasn’t expecting that and what they’ve done for me,all the letters I’ve received, I can’t thank them enough. It reallydoes help you when you are injured and you’re out you know that there’speople there waiting for you to come back and wanting to watch you playfootball.

“You look at that everyone’s played well. I don’t think there’sbeen anyone who’s come into the side and not done their job so I justwant to keep that going. I know I bring something slightly different toanyone else in the squad. The first thing for me is getting back to mylevel of play and that just comes from hard work. I’ll be silly to sitback and think ‘I’ve played one game now and now I’m back’.

"Today I’m having a bit of a rest and then tomorrow trainingand just trying to get the best out of training because I need to getback to the best I can as quickly as I can.”

tribalfootball.com

[Mart 29]

here we go again!

just like with scolari, players walking all over the manager.

this all looks innocent to the average person but the managers must not be influenced, and told how to pick the team by players with big egos.

What are you talking about? Carlo has said many times that J.Cole will play in the hole for him, and that he really wants him to play there. J.Cole is just reacting to his comments. And its not like he can play as a winger in this system, because well, we don't use wingers. He's also one of our best players, so he will slot into the XI somewhere and the best place for him is the hole.

[warnie_666 1,081]

to be honest i think joey is better playing on the wings.

he never looked like central midfielder to me... although this top of the diamond deal might suit him a type of third deep laying striker. better than lamps in any case.

but it is still amazing how good lamps is playing in that position even tho it is clearly not his favourite one

He always was a an Central Attacking Midfielder. He even played first few games for Chelsea in the centre but converted to a winger. He would be Class in the hole with his tricks. And the best thing about it is we will se Lamps back in the RCM.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I really don't think Joe Cole will just waltz back into the team right now; Ballack is playing very, very well and is scoring goals; Essien and Mikel are as effective as ever and though he might not be scoring plenty of goals playing at the tip of the diamond, Lampard is still tallying up the assists he's provided so far this season (six so far). So who do we drop? I would imagine it would be either one of Ballack, Mikel, or Essien, but is that deserved, when all three have been very consistent so far this term? I really can't see Joe starting for a couple of matches - maybe 30 minutes in the next couple of games will be of greater benefit to him in terms of match fitness - but he will have to impress the manager to win a place in the starting eleven. He might even replace Malouda, who hasn't been playing as well as the end of last season, but still decent enough in my opinion. In that case we'd bring Lampard into one of the wider roles, but we he be effective there - I'm not so sure.