Joe Cole- how much missed/wasted potential?

[El Scorchio]

"Was watching an old 'Premier League years' possibly 2000-2001 yesterday and there was a little section of the best skills. Joe Cole was in quite a lot of them and I'd really forgotten just how incredible his skill on the ball was- like watching some of the stuff Paqueta does and at the time Di Canio did. As Redknapp famously said at the time 'he will be the first 100 million pound player.' Without meaning to disrespect him because was still a tremendous player who had a great career, what went wrong? Bad luck/choices? Injury? Something else? I read a couple of things- firstly Mourinho coached all the flair out of him and forced him to be a 'team' player. Secondly because of the inistance of England managers that it (stupidly) had to be Lampard/Gerrard and 442, his only option was to play left wing and thus requested to play there which took a lot out of his natural game. You'd argue that he should have been England's 10 for years and the main man given his talent or a top, top club player at least but it never quite happened. I know he had a couple of bad injuries (knee?) but always a cracking and professional attitude as far as I recall. Interested to hear other's thoughts on it."

[Coffee]

How do you no that nobody knows?

[Nobody]

Joe Cole- how much missed/wasted potential? Nobody knows...

[,]

"Joe Cole was outstanding for his age year by year until he got to around 21 and he never really improved after that. He was always, from then on, a really good player, but by the same token never the top top player that most of us thought that he might have become. Cole did not experience missed or wasted potential rather he reached a peak early and never developed on from there. As far as his coaching was concerned I bet that it was first rate but development is a two way thing and I don’t think he had it in himself to get even better. Still ended up with plenty of medals though."

[WHUDeano]

"100% unfulfilled potential which seems mad given his record and honours. He mentions quite often in podcasts that he was a street footballer and didn’t play for a team until he was something like 11. I would guess that contributed towards him never finding his best position. Im sure I remember his first full match was as a striker, maybe against Wimbledon. From day 1 no one in England seems to have known where to play him. I always saw him as a Di Canio number 10 playing off the front man in a free role, though I don’t remember much about his finishing, so maybe that put coaches off playing him there. Roeder played him as a number 8 which was not too bad - he was the one bright spark of the relegation season. I guess he could have been a Gazza type of player, but probably too small for that position. Left mid in a 4-4-2 for England was a waste, as was how Mourinho used him. Mourinho was very hard on him by all accounts. I wonder where he would have fit in under Fergie, he surely would have been played in that Cantona/Teddy Sheringham withdrawn front man that Fergie loved, though as said already, whether he had the finishing ability to score the goals expecting from a number 10 is debatable. He probably would have thrived the most at a Barcelona type of team, most likely as a centre mid, but was never likely to happen. He definitely had a great career but with the amount of natural talent he had, he should be remembered as one of the greatest English players of all time."

[Vexed]

"I didn't really care once he'd left, but it looked very much like Mourinho did to Cole what Moyes has done to Fornals. The 'Cole Brothers' are brilliant whenever they're in the studio for our European games, come across extremely genuine and proper West Ham lads. You can bet they want rid of the idiot Moyes, like all real West Ham do."

[Ron Eff]

"I’m not sure beyond the youth team and the early part of his senior career he was particularly flairy. I’d argue his last season with us when he was a rare highlight that he was more of an all action centre midfielder which maybe was a result of being captain. A brilliant footballer, a great career, but actually much more suited to the current game. I seem to remember someone (may e Pele?) saying in Brazil they’d build the team around a player like him. In England he got made to be a left winger as we had to play 442."

[Manuel]

"My thoughts are he probably had about the career his talent warranted, i.e extremely good, but not in the higher echelons. Give it a break with the Mourinho ruined him bollocks, it's fucking embarrassing to be frank, Cole was shit at Liverpool, whose fault was that then??"

[zico]

"I remember Alan Dev saying he would have loved the opportunity to coach Joe and he would have played him on the left with licence to roam. Dev himself did ok on the left didn't he but he was pretty two footed, I can't really remember if Joe was. Same with Paqueta now, probably too one footed possibly to play as well on the left? I think with today's different formations Joe would have done well as a number 10 as they call it now!"

[Lee Trundle]

"I never said it was you that said that, Miike. I think you make a good point there, kylay . Owen was another player around the same time that did his ACL and never came back the same player."

[Bungo]

"Childish I know, but I have to say I enjoyed the moment v Chelsea at UP a few years back, when JC came off the bench to a massive round of applause after we'd given John Terry dog's abuse all game."

[kylay]

Done his ACL in '08 which put him out nearly a year. Many a player have been lost to those type injuries. It's also one thing to look great on a highlight reel. Quite another to do it consistently week in and week out. His stats don't really bear out a ton of potential. They got steadily better until his knee injury when the fell off a cliff. I don't remember if I heard he liked cocaine or just always looked like he'd come off a three-day bender. That's also not great for longevity.

[Takashi Miike]

"I never said ruined him. he didn't reach his potential at chelsea, despite still winning plenty of trophies. for me, hazard was a natural winger and his pace is what caused defenders problems. I don't think joe ever looked comfortable out wide, he needed a free role in behind the striker/s. he's probably more than happy with his career, but I think he could have been a world star handled the right way"

[Lee Trundle]

"I'm not sure I've ever bought the whole ""Mourinho ruined him"" thing. Hazard, who played in the same position at the same club under the same manager seemed to do alright. I've had to eat my words though. I always had him down as a bit of a div, but he comes across really well whenever he speaks about the game."

[Takashi Miike]

"watched him a lot in that youth cup winning team, I think his biggest mistake was not going to manchester united. I think fergie would have encouraged him to express himself, rather than what mourinho did where he made him more of a workhorse"

[El Scorchio]

I do seem to remember reading that- because of his coaching background. Agree on the punditry- I'm really pleased for him he has become one of BT's main guys. Talks very well about the game and has a touch of relatability. Also it's nice that he's clearly still got a massive soft spot for us. Him and Carlton together are great.

[bell]

I always enjoyed watching him. He talks a good game as a pundit these days as well. Instrumental in Glenn Roeders appointment wasn't he?