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Ashley Cole is a Ram

Carl Sagan

By Carl Sagan
in Transfer Forum

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Sexydadbod

Sexydadbod

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, rynny said:

At that is the crux of it. That's your opinion and I have mine, we can shake hands and walk away knowing we have differed opinions and not get into why you are wrong ?

Why do we have to walk away? Why can’t we walk into the sunset together and live happily ever after?

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TibshelfRam

TibshelfRam

Posted
Posted

I, personally, find many of the recent comments refreshing. And many of them are bang on - there is no doubt that the 2000s were a golden era for full backs. Maldini, Lahm, Roberto Carlos, Lizurazu, Abidal, Evra and Cole to name but a few - and that's just on the left.

For me, Cole was, for a period of time the best left back in the world and is also, the best left back England have ever had - with stern competition from Ray Wilson and Kenny Samson. But, clearly, this debate is subjective and the margins in between any of the names previously mentioned are so slim.

Cole, was, in my view, a world class, all round defender. He had pace, his 1-1 defending was exemplary and, contrary to a couple of views I've seen on here, he was incredible going forward. Think of the way he used to link with Pires and Henry down Arsenal's left. It was scary. I remember a number of England fans suggesting he should be played on the left wing when we didn't have a left winger! I find it frustrating that a side of top players, that couldn't have been better designed to play in Southgate's 3-3-2-2 system, were stagnated by Sven's horrific 4-4-2 and Cole would've excelled at LWB. Oh what might have been!

Anyway, I digress. What I'm more heartened by is that we are now going to have a player of this calibre joining our ranks. Yes, of course it is a signing 10 years out of date (Martin O'Neill, anyone?) but clearly we'd never have been able to bring him in 10 years ago. I saw enough of him at Galaxy to suggest that he's more than capable of doing a job - defensively, positionally, and technically with his delivery and attacking play. Of course, he's lost a lot of his pace but his fitness still seems to add up. And what we've clearly not had is enough positional awareness from our two FBs.

What is more, the knowledge that he will be able to pass on to our developing and promising full backs is second to none and so, to come in and do that whilst also providing cover makes this deal PERFECT for us at the moment. I am excited by the prospect - plus, it allows Lowe to spend more time being exposed to games north of the border and, before long, he'll be playing against better opposition every week once the SPL splits.

For now, though, as we talk about great left backs of the past, I am happy to reflect on our current situation. I think we've got an excellent LB in Malone, a promising LB in Lowe and a solid and dependable LB in Forsyth once he's back. And now, we've got the expereince, knowledge and undoubted ability of Ashley Cole to add to the list. For a side that, in recent years, has turned out Mo Camara, Jay McEveley, Eddie Lewis, Jordan Stewart and Gareth Roberts, I don't think we ought to complain too much. And with that: Long live the rest of this thread.

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nogbad van 50

nogbad van 50

Posted
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4 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

 

Not old enough to have seen McFarland or Todd but in my opinion Wright is the only better central defender we've had than McGrath.

Stimac was obviously excellent as a ball player but from a defensive point of view spent way too much time on his backside, something McGrath had to do because his reading of the game was so good.

Fair enough. I’ve watched Derby since 1964 and would say that McGrath must have been an incredible defender without injuries as he was very good for the short,training free period he was here.I’d still say that Stimac was better but that’s the beauty of football,we’re all entitled to our opinions.If you were naming your all time Derby side and you’d seen them play,McFarland and Todd would be the central defenders.They were that good!

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nogbad van 50

nogbad van 50

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1 hour ago, McLovin said:

Well that didn’t make much sense. And no, I didn’t underrate Cole. Evra was just has good as him in that period, for me better because he actually improved Man Utd whilst Chelsea got worse for a few years after Cole joined. You can’t deny that.  How many people outside of Man Utd fans called Evra the best left back in the world ? Not many, even though Evra played at a higher level than Cole did from 06-09. 

And you’re not understanding , I never said Cole wasn’t world class, he was but he wasn’t the outstanding best, there were other great left backs who played in that period too. There was never a clear cut best left back in that period, in changed year upon year where one player was slightly better than the rest, in 07 it was Abidal, Lahm 08, Evra 09, Cole 10.

All valid opinions but I have to correct you regarding Philip Lahm.He played right back or right midfield for Bayern and West Germany

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Sexydadbod

Sexydadbod

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42 minutes ago, rcarso1 said:

All valid opinions but I have to correct you regarding Philip Lahm.He played right back or right midfield for Bayern and West Germany

You are correct that Lahm was adaptable. However, he used to play at left back for Bayern and Germany, as Cheron said, Sagnol was Bayern’s right back. Lahm moved to right back in his mid to late twenties before moving into midfield towards the end of his career. Shows what a brilliant player he was that he was world class in every position he played, so much so that we are debating about what his position was!

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Ghost of Clough

Ghost of Clough

Posted
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1 hour ago, rcarso1 said:

All valid opinions but I have to correct you regarding Philip Lahm.He played right back or right midfield for Bayern and West Germany

RB all the way through his youth career with the odd game in midfield. Got switched to the left when on loan to Stuttgart. It wasn’t until 09/10 that he switched back to the right. 

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