Carlton Cole, shortly before joining West Ham United, was given a front-row view from the Upton Park terraces as Hernan Crespo sealed a 3-1 Chelsea win during the 2005/06 Premier League campaign.
Cole watched the Argentina icon drop deep and then spin in behind the Hammers backline. And as Roy Carroll came flying out of his goal, Crespo rounded the ‘keeper and slotted effortlessly into an empty net.
A few months before he left Chelsea for West Ham United on a permanent basis, Carlton Cole pledged that he would take the lessons he learned from his one-time Stamford Bridge teammate and put them to very good use in the years to come.
The club’s current number nine – one Callum Wilson – took plenty of inspiration from one of the finest centre-forwards of the 21st century himself.
Watching on from the commentary booth, former Hammers defender Matthew Upson watched Wilson produce a ‘brilliant’ cameo performance during the 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in August. A cameo he capped with a late header from a fabulous El Hadji Malick Diouf cross.
Speaking on the latest edition of the Ironcast podcast, Wilson now opens up the inspiration he took from Real Madrid icon Karim Benzema. As he bamboozled Forest centre-back Murillo before converting Diouf’s pinpoint delivery, his mesmerising movement was taken straight out of the Benzema playbook.
West Ham United striker Callum Wilson shares Karim Benzema inspiration
Remember on Match of the Day when Alan Shearer, the Premier League’s all-time record goalscorer, would pinpoint a centre-forward, replay his movement in slow motion, and insist that ‘any kids at home, just watch this’?
Callum Wilson does.
“I would say [my idol is Arsenal legend] Thierry Henry. I would watch on YouTube when I had a game the next day, and I used to watch Match of the Day as a kid,” Wilson remembers. “They analysed different goals and how they happened, how a player would find themselves in space.
“I sometimes watched Benzema and he does it quite often.”
As Diouf shaped up his cross, Wilson darted to the front post and than spun to the back, leaving Nottingham Forest centre-back Murillo in no-man’s land. The finish was simple, really, but the movement was anything but.
“Against someone like Murillo, he’s a strong character,” adds Wilson, who is now 11 away from a century of Premier League goals. “If you run into the box and he grabs you, it’s difficult to get away from.
“So [the trick is] not letting a defender be touch-tight with you. As soon as they feel you, it’s going to stop your momentum into the box. Not letting him touch me was vital. Then I can see the man and the ball at the same time and being on his blindside, faking it to go to the front-post.”
Carlton Cole likens Wilson’s Nottingham Forest striker to former Chelsea star Hernan Crespo
Callum Wilson inherited the number nine shirt from his close friend Michail Antonio at the London Stadium. The aforementioned Cole also wore nine during his days in claret and blue.
“I learned [how to move away from defenders] from Crespo. I actually came to Upton Park, watching it from the stands,” Cole adds, looking back at his goal in that 3-1 win 19 years ago.
“I saw his run, playing for Chelsea, and he got in and got a goal. I saw [Wilson] do the same thing and thought, ‘He must be watching Crespo, studying the game!’.
“A perfect display of what a striker is supposed to do in that position. Any kids watching this, please go and watch Callum Wilson’s goal against Nottingham Forest. You will learn a lot.”
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