Jay - The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr Brain has long since departed. (U16498)

I don't think playing Cole means we're setting up defensively though, that's the difference.

Winston of course not, i'm not sure it's less valid though. Compared to yours, who doesn't watch all our games, it's obviously more valid

"Play Cole when England need to park the bus,great forward thinking tactics there Winston I must say."

Either improve your debating skills or leave - that is a truly ridiculous comment.

Totally Charming & Wonderful (U6489)

Not necessarily, but it's not really an issue is it.

Your last post, insinuating he's not very good at anything... he's Mourinho's first choice left back - so I'm not sure you have much ground there?

Who else would we play? Lampard is our first choice CM but that doesn't make him England's best.

He's good at defending deep. Excellent at it.

Also, you can even hear people asking for Bertrand only a few, and quietly mind. It's because Cole's offensive game is dead.

Sorry, Ramires is our first choice but Lamps is in our first choice pairing.

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Totally Charming & Wonderful (U6489)

He had time to replace him, if he was such a liability. I think you're exaggerating things.

phil neville has three left feet (U13806)

You had your chance, now please leave.

Perhaps we can debate something when you've grown up.

If Cole isn't as good as Baines going forward, then in games we're likely to dominate, why would we play Cole instead? I haven't suggested parking the bus with Cole, but if he's better defensively, then he should start games we're likely to be under pressure in.

Play them to their strengths, there is still a place for both of them in the squad..

It would depend on how the forward four were set up for me, but I agree that I would have Cole in over Baines, particularly against better opposition.

Those that are saying Blaszczykowski is a good winger. Well, yes, yes he is. The rest of the Polish team isn't however, they sat deep and played counter attack last night, the ball never went to their right hand side in open play. That had two impacts. Firstly, Baines was allowed to get forward even more than he was doing initially (Wellbeck was hardly on the left at all in possession, he moved centrally because there was no threat at all from Poland that needed covering) and Blaszczykowski actually swapped wings, although he still didn't see any of the ball apart from counters started from our own set plays.

Against better teams who don't sit that deep, Baines will not be allowed anywhere near the licence that Poland allowed him last night. Against some, depending on who we play left wing, we may decide to be adventurous and then he should start. However, if we are in a game where a lot is played in our own half, or the back four all have to sit deep, then Cole should get the nod every time. He is more comfortable in possession in his own half (something that Baines struggled even last night with at times, although that is being quite critical on my part, his offensive quality more than made up for it) and offers more defensive stability for me.

He is not a terrible player though we do need a better LB in the near future as the decline will continue. He is still a great defensive LB but we are trying to build towards a bit more of a gung ho team if reports are to be believed. He won't be replaced yet, for more reasons as well, like his HG status and senior status, he has a lot to share as well as still being an asset.

Offensively he is poor and he is not the player he was several years back and I don't see why he is an auto pick ahead of Baines any more.

comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 8 seconds ago
It would depend on how the forward four were set up for me, but I agree that I would have Cole in over Baines, particularly against better opposition.

Those that are saying Blaszczykowski is a good winger. Well, yes, yes he is. The rest of the Polish team isn't however, they sat deep and played counter attack last night, the ball never went to their right hand side in open play. That had two impacts. Firstly, Baines was allowed to get forward even more than he was doing initially (Wellbeck was hardly on the left at all in possession, he moved centrally because there was no threat at all from Poland that needed covering) and Blaszczykowski actually swapped wings, although he still didn't see any of the ball apart from counters started from our own set plays.

Against better teams who don't sit that deep, Baines will not be allowed anywhere near the licence that Poland allowed him last night. Against some, depending on who we play left wing, we may decide to be adventurous and then he should start. However, if we are in a game where a lot is played in our own half, or the back four all have to sit deep, then Cole should get the nod every time. He is more comfortable in possession in his own half (something that Baines struggled even last night with at times, although that is being quite critical on my part, his offensive quality more than made up for it) and offers more defensive stability for me.
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This is essentially what I've been trying to say, just put much more eloquently and comprehensively.

Jay feck off, your one liners were nothing like Melton's post.

Jay - The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr Brain has long since departed. (U16498)

I agree that there is space for them both.

I also agree there's a sense to playing Baines in games where we are likely to dominate.

My issue is that I don't think we're likely to dominate more than one game at the world cup.

comment by Mr Chelsea ✪ (U3579)
posted 1 minute ago
Jay feck off, your one liners were nothing like Melton's post.
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I said he put it better than me...

Ok cole can get past the half way line. But how many assissts does he get? As I said earlier a moderen full back is more than just defending

What about Baines, set piece delivery. He can take corners, freekicks and he can cross a ball better most of the attacking players in the team. Forget being better than Cole for a minute. Baines is very good on the ball and some of our attacking players would do well to do what Baines does than Cole. Baines simply for me has to be number 1 left back now.

Mr Reasonable (U2320)

In the past two seasons, as a total, he's got more assists in the prem than Baines, in less games.

And that's without taking corners.

I'm not one for stats really, but that may help to disprove the idea that Cole hangs back to readjust his hip replacement whilst Baines sets up a hat trick whilst doing a handstand.

Mr C, I would only let Baines take corners and free kicks from a 'non shooting' angle, from the right. Surely the rest have to fall to Rooney?

Winston please show me were you have this stat from

Jay, Some of Baines's goals have come from freekicks. They are top notch freekicks. If Rooney's hits them to a similar standard then share them out but from what Ive seen of Baines, he is very clever with his freekicks.

Mr Reasonable (U2320)

It's the ESPN site - just Google 'espn ashley cole stats' etc.

It maybe wrong, not sure. Took me by surprise, although in 10/11 Baines got a massive 11 assists.

It isn't as simple as that though, who plays at right back may have an impact as well.

Last night is a prime example of that. As much as I said Poland had no possession on our flanks to cause any threat, Baines had Smalling on his opposite flank. This provided him a lot more cover than, say, Johnson or Walker playing would as Smalling stayed deeper throughout the game. Partly this was because Townsend was playing as an out an out winger whereas Wellbeck was cutting in, allowing Baines the space to run into, but also that gave us more stability for if we did lose the ball in possession.

Very rarely do teams play two attacking fullbacks at the same time if they don't have decent cover set up for when they go forward. The way we are set up, for me, I would not want to do that, it leaves us too exposed and doesn't play to our strengths.

Ultimately, Baines and Walker/Johnson as the two fullbacks does not give enough stability for me against better teams. That then leaves a choice of having either Cole with Walker/Johnson and attacking down the right, or Baines with Smalling/Jones and attacking down the left.

Personally, i would prefer the former every time. There is more to be taken into account than that though (like the balance between Wellbeck and Townsend and width in the final third), but we would be way too exposed for me against the good teams.