Complacent Cole deserves boos
Mon Oct 13 08:57AM
Early Doors never thought it would see anybody leap to Ashley Cole's defence.
This is a man who embodies everything odious about the modern game. Who left his boyhood club to chase money; who became the face (or the back) of anti-respect when he turned away from a referee; who played the field despite landing a pop star wife; who published a remarkably self-pitying autobiography that sold only 4000 copies.
Now he is cast as a victim after England fans booed him for his calamitous pass that led to Kazakhstan's goal on Saturday.
Words like 'disgraceful', 'mindless' and 'idiots' are bandied about by players, managers and pundits who reach the po-faced conclusion that anyone who booed Cole is worse than Hitler.
First of all, there is the namby-pamby argument that nobody should be subjected to public ridicule.
Tell that to Ashley's more successful other half Cheryl, currently appearing on a TV programme that has spent the last two months laughing at poor saps who think they can sing but can't.
Next comes the claim that the fans are to blame for England's poor home record. Wembley will never become a fortress unless people get behind the team and show unwavering support.
Surely this puts the cart before the horse? Fans wouldn't be booing if the team wasn't so crap.
The crowd had already endured 68 minutes of utter tosh with some patience before Cole's party piece allowed Zhambyl Kukeyev to race through and score the most embarrassing goal England have conceded since Davide 'General' Gualtieri took just eight seconds to beat David Seaman for San Marino.
Rio Ferdinand also deserves blame, incidentally. If he had reacted to Cole's ricket as quickly as Kukeyev did, he would have cut the ball out easily.
Only then did the jeers rain down on Cole. But it is important to understand that he wasn't booed for the mistake as much as what the mistake represented.
For reasons that are painfully obvious, Early Doors doesn't condone booing people for incompetence. Cole was guilty of more than that.
That San Marino goal in 1993 came from another left-back error, by Stuart Pearce. He under-hit a backpass and San Marino scored. But it was merely rubbish, not reprehensible.
When people say Cole didn't make his mistake on purpose, they are wrong. Of course he did it on purpose.
ED doesn't mean he deliberately gave away a goal. But he knew that the pass was showy and risky, and he played it anyway because it was only Kazakhstan.
In nearly a decade of club football, has Cole ever done anything as stupid as that? (On the pitch, that is.) Would he ever, in a million years, think of doing that for Chelsea? Of course not.
Cole personified the entire England team, which was suffused with complacency. Where the 4-1 win in Croatia was full of urgency, drive and ambition, Saturday's match was totally flat.
England were so convinced that goals would come by divine right, they couldn't be bothered to make anything happen.
It was the same at the back. In the first half, rather than making an obvious clearance, Matthew Upson attempted a dangerous backpass to David James. Presumably because booting the ball into Row Z against such lowly opposition would have been embarrassing.
A couple of minutes before the first goal, Kazakhstan nearly scored after Cole was caught miles out of position.
Where was he? Vomiting on the floor of a black cab? Watching X-Factor? Debating some p*ss-take contract offer?
Clearly, England were not trying, and Cole was the worst offender.
Clubs and the FA are happy to view football as a product when it suits them. They take full advantage when people pay huge sums to consume football matches, replica shirts, Peter Crouch calendars and Wes Brown alarm clocks.
Despite this relentless commercialisation, there seems to remain an old-fashioned view that the people who shell out thousands of pounds a year for this tat should not be viewed as discriminating customers.
They are expected to shell out £70 a head for tickets, get a crappy old train to a dank corner of North-West London (no parking at English grounds, obviously), spend another tenner on a programme, then buy overpriced hot dogs and fizzy drinks.
And then they are expected not to complain when they see something as lifeless and complacent as the first 70 minutes against Kazakhstan?
Nobody is forcing people to come to football matches. If they are not entertained, they won't be back. That's business. And if you don't want football to be a business, bring prices back down to 1966 levels, when World Cup tickets set you back all of seven bob.
Otherwise, you must expect people to make their voices heard when they feel short-changed.
And who said unconditional support was the best way to help your team win, anyway? Why is it that fans are expected to sit there (sorry, stand there) and cheer, clap and whoop, whatever fetid tripe their team feeds them?
Managers who take this approach - well, Kevin Keegan - are ridiculed for it. There are times when you need a good old-fashion rollicking to sort things out - and the booing of Cole was the fans' version of the hairdryer treatment.
Players are mollycoddled and protected from reality enough as it is. Do they really need fans to overlook their failings and give them a pat on the back they clearly don't deserve?
England's performance in general - and Cole's in particular - was unacceptable and they needed to be told so.
Things improved markedly after the booing started - do you think it was a coincidence? Well, yes, it probably was.
The late glut of goals probably had less to do with the abuse meted out to Cole than England's realisation that defending set-pieces is no more a part of Kazakh culture than naked wrestling or the running of the Jew.
But it's fun to boo Ashley Cole.
- - -
Disagree with the above? Well, you're in good company. Jonathan Symcox explains why booing simply isn't on. And Reda Maher agrees with him. Early Doors thinks they are both fools.
- - -
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Steven Gerrard: "It's up to the manager whether he plays me and Frank [Lampard] in central midfield or plays a three and changes the formation."
Only for the staggering arrogance in Gerrard's statement. It hasn't even occurred to him that he might be dropped.
EXCHANGE OF THE WEEKEND: Paul Dickov on Goals on Sunday, proving he is just as troublesome as a pundit as he was as a player.
Pleasingly, Robbie Savage was the target of his mischief, forcing Chris Kamara to defuse a potentially embarrassing situation.
Savage on Scotland 'striker' Chris Iwelumo: "I didn't expect to hear that sound coming out of his mouth."
Dickov: "Why?"
Savage: "Well, er.."
[Awkward silence...]
Kamara: "Because he's coloured!! HAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! It's OK, you can say it!!!"
- - -
FOREIGN VIEW: Early Doors is bracing itself for the worst. Despite France coming from two goals down to draw in Romania on Saturday, the most entertaining man in international football could still get the push. The French FA meets on Wednesday to discuss Raymond Domenech's position.
'NEGATIVITY !!!.Thats what kills a teams performance,fans, always be positive that our England team will do well and they will' really? because i have been positive for the last 30 years and in that time all england have done to repay my positive attitude is to scrape through to the semi/qtr finals of tournaments only to go out on penalties or dodgy ref decisions... it's about time the fans let the team know when they are not happy, i am sure the booing will be taken as constructive critism and blatant mistakes/bad performances will slowly become a thing of the past.... Lets face it if we are not happy with an aspect of Englands game who will listen to us if normal channels of communication are followed? no-one but en-mass at Wembley we cannot be ignored...
I agree with the comments that it was great we won 5-1 and have a decent goal difference, i do hope that this is the start of good times for our national team but once again i find myself thinking 'best not get too excited as i know they will be true to form, play well for a few games then let us down when it really matters' remember the lines in 3 Lions 'Everyone seems to know the score,
They've seen it all before,
They just know,
They're so sure,
That England's Gonna throw it away,
Gonna blow it away,
But know they can play,'That was '96 and i am sure it is still the case today...
From andy_23w on Mon Oct 13 11:23AMrichard.ekman - if carrick was so good at the job he does why did fergie go and splash £20million on another holding midfielder. Carrick was brilliant at spurs and has been gr8 for man utd, but the main reason i would choose hargreaves over him is the pace and the tackling ability that hargreaves has compared to carrick. If i was a free-role centre midfielder id rather play against carrick than hargreaves.
From jay8my on Mon Oct 13 11:25AMrichard.ekman - Not signing about sh1tty Spurs no more? Wasn't so long ago when you were blowing that they had a better squad than Liverpool & finish in a CL Spot... how funny does that sound now!
SPURS SUCK!
From kevin1985kane on Mon Oct 13 11:25AMjay8my: That was just an argument to your claim that England isn't a big country. We all know they are under-performing. I just tried to tell you that they are one of the biggest countries in the football-world. Size and population are just two factors. Otherwise China would meet India or Russia in every final.
Being top of your group is good. But like I said. I think you've been lucky so far. I guarantee you that we will see some shocking draws and losses from England unless Capello organizes the defensive 1-0 team he wants to soon. Right now I can't really see it. But dropping Owen is a good first step. Owen was part of Sven-Göran Eriksson's team. And he was cos he was brilliant back then. Defoe should take his place.
From richard.ekman on Mon Oct 13 11:27AMIf you boo A Cole in an English shirt you are booing England also. If you are an English football fan, shame is on you boo boys. Yes! everything that is said in the article about circumstances surrounding English football is correct, but that is not an excuse to show disrepect to your own country. Be a smart consumer but don't be an idiot to your country!
However, if you think A Cole is a gold digger, arrogance, disrespectful or obnoxious, then by all means boo him when he is wearing street clothes. I don't think anyone will be against you.
From jeep1182000 on Mon Oct 13 11:28AMwho was the captain on the field for england on saturday? doesn't he have the job of geeing up the side when they are failing for lack of effort? and super player gerrard? why does he not put himself about more in such situations; is this not an important part of his game that has given him the accolades and reputation that he deserves at club level? why does he not bring it to his england performances? we hear the pundits harping on about 'big players for big games' and your owen (where was he . . ), lampard, gerrard, ferdinand, rooney all being mentioned; but i haven't seen it yet from this gang; so bring on the youngsters, this lot are now just boring
(ps: i would suggest that to compare any aspect of a cashley performance to a carvalho one, beyond the fact that they often appear on the same pitch at the same time, is to demonstrate something of a misunderstanding of what 'performance' means in regard to contributing to a football match)
(pps: really pleasant to see the majority of comments being on a football topic; thanks)
From c.hawcroft on Mon Oct 13 11:28AMSorry jay8my but if he WAS commited in 2004 he sure doesn't that impression NOW! look at the way Wayne Rooney, David Beckham and even (don't say it too loud) Emile Heskey play with pride for their national team. Wales Eire and Northern Ireland players play with pride for their respective national teams - too many English footballers are playing for their egos! If they were that good they'd be Brazil or the Harlem Globetrotters!!
From jonathangrosskopf on Mon Oct 13 11:28AMI hope the England management and players read this article. Brilliant!!!!
From john_wingfield on Mon Oct 13 11:28AMkev kane, i thought georges imagine was good for a 16 year old boy but not for an x-factor finalist. U should support the only irish contestant tho, otherwise u just wouldnt be irish.
From jay8my on Mon Oct 13 11:28AMTo be honest, we as a country are just fickle! I cant stand Ashley Cole (probably because i am jealous that he has such a fantastic life and a great looking Mrs) but what he did was a mistake! If he had turned it around and scored for England, would we have continued to boo? No! England are never going to be Brazil and our expectations are too high purely because of the way they play at club level and the amount they are paid. If i saw that each player gave 100% commitment and played with passion, i would be happy no matter the score but we dont and I just feel sorry for those people out there that would give a limb to play at Wembley for there country.
From coachdannymac on Mon Oct 13 11:29AMGive him a break! England won handsomely anyhow right? God!
From wasutha on Mon Oct 13 11:30AMkevin1985kane: Let me correct you. I actually said spurs would finish third in the league ahead of Liverpool and Ar5ena1. And yes. That sounds pretty funny now. But lets talk about international football for now. Please....
From richard.ekman on Mon Oct 13 11:31AMI am happy for England as it is now Fab that determine who should play rather than the media or football fans!!!!
From jeep1182000 on Mon Oct 13 11:32AMGood morning ed,
I think you are right that fans have the right to boo given that football cost so much to see and buy merchandice. I think that the mind set is that givent the so called strength of our top league the international team should follow suit, however I believe that the English national team are not world class players, but merely club class. The most obvious one to point out is Steven G fantastic for club rubbish at internationl level.
Why is the topic of club class and international class never brought up by anyone especially on t.v
I thinnk it is a valid point aqnd one that needs to be adressed.
From stephen.cain on Mon Oct 13 11:33AMJonathan, i can see ur point and where ur coming from. I myself have been left so angered after england performances that ive kicked the cat. However, im an england supporter so i support my country, football under pressure is tough. But u have to show enough commitment to make urself confident. I just want to see my nation in south africa come 2010 and at the moment its looking good so why moan now??
From jay8my on Mon Oct 13 11:33AMrichard.ekamn ur argument wiv england being lucky against croatia is abit rich isn't it. Considering they beat us by one goal on both occasions last time and those were goalkeeping howlers. We beat them by 3. So i do not agree with ur point!!
From jay8my on Mon Oct 13 11:35AMthe players are not over paid they earn as much as YOU are willing to pay them, and if you all really think they are all over paid then you will stop buying all the branded tat that they peddle out every other day. stop going through the gates handing over a days wage to watch 11 trillionaires run around waving there hands around and stamping there feet. football used to be great but these days its just a marketing tool for the world brands I love England but hate watching them as I depresses me that the working mans game has gone to the dogs.
From eburfoot on Mon Oct 13 11:35AMrichard.ekman - That's fine, I'm just proving a point there!
Jay - Have to support my fellow countryman but If I were to put money on it, id go Laura or JLS!
Anyone think that Ireland could @#$% top spot in their group?
I'm being biased but i think we'll do better than Bulgaria and an over-aged Italy are playing terrible at the minute? Any suggestions?England will comfortably finish top of their group!
Scotland will struggle though!From kevin1985kane on Mon Oct 13 11:36AMHi ED, I think you are quite right about Mr.A.Cole, How about all those
punters who backed England to win with a clean sheet ie/. 3-0 4-0 5-0,
I bet the bookies were happy the Kazaks scored!
from gp,tottsFrom georgehdc on Mon Oct 13 11:36AMIt should also be remembered that Capello is a results-driven winner and would happily accept a 1-0 win against Kazakhstan and every other team England plays against. Even if flowing football was possible, Capello would reject it if he thought it might endanger a win. This is something that England fans will have to accept. I think Capello will succeed and get England further than Sven could but the football won't necessarily be beautiful!
From kgh_r on Mon Oct 13 11:38AMjay8my: Yes Hargreaves has more bite and is more aggresive. And that would probably be very good behind Gerrard but I think England could use a so called defensive playmaker. With Gerrard-Lampard that role will be played by Ferdinand or Terry. And Hargreaves doesn't have that abillity to dictate play that Carrick has. Everyone who watches Barcelona or Spain knows how important Xavi is to them. He is not just a brilliant passer. Fabregas is too. He has the abillity to control the pace of the game and even the actions of team mates with his playing style. I think Carrick has a similar style.
And in defensive play Gerrard would of course fall back in the field and help defend. And he has all the tackling abillity and aggrision that Hargreaves has.
From richard.ekman on Mon Oct 13 11:39AMIt cannot be just passed off as a mistake, he had time on the ball, time to make that decision, his execution of the pass was lazy and goes against the rules of defending don't play the ball across your goal if there are oppostion players about. This 'mistake' ranks up there with Beckams kick against Simeone in France or P.Nevilles tackle in the Romania game, it could have been avoided if the player in question had thought about it before executing.
When a player is performing he will be cheered, Cole deserves the cheer he plays well for england but he also has to be aware that some of the fans will not put up with this premadonna, egotisticle bull@#$% anymore, we want results (yes we are glory hunters, whats wrong with that, erm we want to see our team win tournys so what, we get p*ssed off when they don't win anything, and?), boo a player for making an outragous mistake and the chances are he will never do that again, which in the end will be all the better for the game. Years and Years we have stayed silent, well mannered, respectful but no more, come on England, come on England!!!
i also noticed towards the end of the game the same fans were cheering cole everytime he got the ball as it was apparent that he had pulled his socks up and got on with it...
From andy_23w on Mon Oct 13 11:39AMED, why on earth would you pass a useless comment about the JEW? I doubt if anyone pro in journalism edditing this report with you and if it continues this way,I can say YOU'RE THE HOLE IN THE BUM OF AN @#$%; CAUSE THATS HOW YOU PASSED COMMENTS ABOUT AFRICANS! ''YOU'RE A RACIST''
From havimikenuga on Mon Oct 13 11:40AMI have not seen french fan booeing the team for their bad form or the german doing so when losing 5 goals against england some years ago... shame on you dirty fans.
From benisoning2 on Mon Oct 13 11:41AMkev kane, i hope rep of ireland do finish top of their group, italy obviously will be tough but wales turned them over not too long ago. Id love to see ireland at south africa in 2010 as i would have 2 teams id be supporting creating double the interest. Ireland in 2002 were brill, just unlucky, loved the draw against germany tho, even without keano.
From jay8my on Mon Oct 13 11:43AMkevin1985kane: I would never, never bet against Italy. They'll sort it out. Overaged is not a bad thing over there. They always have an old squad. You don't break into an Italian national team at the age of 17 like in England.
From richard.ekman on Mon Oct 13 11:43AMThanks jay for some hope. Comment from Stephen.cain: if most of these English players play week in and week out with some world class team players (and some of them put in world class performances of their own) then why can't they reporduce the same for their national team. Is the coach no good? are they too arrogant - nobody pushing them hard for their position? The answer appears to be that they are not contracted to play for their team - their club pays their wages so they"bother" to play for their club! Case in point Boyd(?) deciding not to bother to play for Scotland anymore.
From jonathangrosskopf on Mon Oct 13 11:43AMWhy are people quite obviously from countries outside the Uk pontificating abou how england supporters support their own team?
145 - the 'running of the jew' a reference to 'Borat'. Type it into wikipeida and go from there. In no way is it a negative remark to Jewish people.
From jonathan.highfield on Mon Oct 13 11:48AMYahoo Sport Editors. Please start a poll on this.
From clintsrhythm on Mon Oct 13 11:50AMKev I'd be very surprised if Ireland won the group. I agree that Italy and Bulgaria aren't too impressive at the moment but Italy always get the job done. As I said before, its hard to be optimistic after the Stan era but if Trap gets the basics right again, then Ireland can definitely qualify.
From kgh_r on Mon Oct 13 11:51AM
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