Joe Cole has been in the press a lot this week and not always for the right reasons. He scored a great goal against Fulham on Saturday to give us a 3-0 lead.
Cole was taken off after 26 minutes against Chelsea and went straight down the tunnel because he was rightly frustrated. Everyone seemed to make a very big deal out of it but I don’t really think there’s any need. Leaving and not staying to watch the game didn’t look very good in terms of team spirit which is needed to pull the whole team through this tough patch, they need to show more passion and I think him going and showing that frustration proved that the passion is still there, especially from him.
I’ve said before he’s always got a goal in him, he’s scored twice this season so far and had an injury as well but he is a very important member of the squad especially with Jarvis performing the way he is at the moment. I hope Saturday showed we need a striker because it gives players like Cole and Downing a greater chance of scoring and proving they deserve their place in the squad. I hope Joe continues to play a lot this season and doesn’t get injured again and I also want him to stay next season but there have been a lot of reports to suggest he probably won’t be staying next season and has had some interest from quite a few other teams. Joe Cole is a hammer and I think he always puts the effort in whenever he plays and I think that’s what is needed at the moment.
I would have hoped Saturday gave us the boost we needed to beat Palace but the game didn’t really go to plan and we came away with no points from a poor piece of defending and annoyed to have a goal disallowed but the team have to try and pick themselves up from it and attempt to get something on Saturday even though it will be extremely difficult but we held them to a good 0-0 draw last season so anything is possible. I also just want to mention how well I thought Maiga done on Saturday I know fans can give him a hard time sometimes but he had a really good game Saturday afternoon.